The Countdown Begins
by Frog-Lizard
Summary: Frog: It started with a child's life and a split-second decision to save it and ended in their fragile facade falling apart. Now there's nowhere left to run away, and no place left to hide. Time to choose a loyalty. Self-Destruct begins in five...
1. Chapter 1: Inevitable

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers.

Frog: This is sort of more of a prologue than anything else, but I'm counting it as a chapter anyways. XP Hurray for the story finally starting!!

A small bit of warning, there WILL be OCs in this story, but there will NOT be any pairings except for the canon ones and some slight hints of an OCxOC pairing. I'm going to do my best at keeping the canon characters in as much as I can, so any help with that will be appreciated (eg. suggestions are always welcome).

EDIT: Thank you to all the reviewers that told me where Diego Garcia is! I've decided, that since it's so far away, I'm just going to make up a base that's near Tranquility for the sake of not changing things around too much ;)

* * *

**Chapter 1: Inevitable**

Location: NEST base, 52 miles East of Tranquility.

It seemed to Ironhide that if all living things, sentient or not, organic or metal, had one thing in common.

They formed habits.

Cybertronians were no different. Optimus had a habit of overworking himself until his systems just about shut down from lack of recharge. Ratchet had a habit of throwing sharp objects, sometimes for no discernable reason. Prowl had a habit trying to apply logic to everything, and often times succeeding. Skids and Mudflap had a habit of popping up in random places you would not expect to find them. Sideswipe had a habit of nearly killing any poor human that was either caught in a prank or the following getaway or just so happened to be standing in the middle of the road. Bumblebee had a habit of blaming Sam for _everything_, even if the human boy was in a completely different state_. _Jolt had a habit of forgetting to use his com. link and thus saying things out loud that were really only meant to be heard by one person/bot. Arcee had a habit of repeatedly getting flat tires. Chromia had a habit of pacing a trench in the floor whenever she was mad (and thus warning everyone to _stay away_). Wheeljack had a habit of…well to put it nicely, of making large messes that everyone else had to clean up.

And the Decepticons had an irritating habit of fighting, disappearing for a few months to plot some new "scheme", and then showing up someplace else on Earth and the Autobots would have to chase them off…again. Everyone knew this, well at least all the Cybertronains on base did. The humans on the other hand, didn't seem to be catching onto the pattern quite yet.

"Come one 'Hide, there's no need to get so worked up. We're just going out to have lunch, that's all," Will sighed heavily as the large black mech continued to stare incredulously at him. Behind him his wife stood patiently, having grown quite used to Ironhide's overprotective nature in the four years she had known him.

"And daddy said I can get ice cream this time!" Annabelle piped up from where she stood next to her mother, tightly holding onto Sarah's hand and swinging her arm back and forth in her anticipation.

Ironhide narrowed his optics at the human male, "We're expecting a Decepticon attack any day now. I don't think it's wise to take your family out at this time, regardless of tradition."

Normally Ironhide wouldn't object to the routine lunch date that the Lennox family went on every time Sarah and Annabelle came to visit. The weapon's specialist was always invited to join them, even though sometimes his duties prevented him from doing so, but when he did go it was never a bad experience.

This time, however, something just wasn't sitting right with his spark. Something was bothering him and he couldn't quite explain what. But as the self-assigned guardian of the Lennox family, he felt it was his duty to protect them from whatever it was. And knowing Sarah, they would be going out to lunch with or without that protection, despite any protests he would make. But still he had to try.

"Well if you're concerned you're welcome to join us and keep us all safe," Sarah smiled reassuringly, "We won't be gone too long."

"That's not what worries me…" Ironhide grumbled, shaking his head, "The last three Decepticon strikes have been in the surrounding areas of our base. There's fair chance it will happen again."

"Please Ironhide?" Sarah gave him her best innocent smile, the very same that had been the undoing of many humans and Autobots alike time and again. And it didn't help much that Annabelle was copying her mother's expression perfectly.

"Pleeeeeeeease?" the little girl tilted her head to the side cutely.

"Now you just _can't _say no to that," Will chuckled, grateful that he was not in Ironhide's shoes…er armor plating.

With a frustrated groan and a sigh of defeat, Ironhide shifted to his alt. mode and opened the doors, "Fine! But this had better be quick!"

Annabelle squealed in delight and quickly broke away from her mother to climb in the back seat with her father's help. As her seatbelt was secured and the two adults climbed into the front seats, Ironhide sent a quick com. to the Autobot leader.

"_Prime, the Lennox's are going to lunch. I'm going along to make sure they're safe," _he muttered, not bothering to hide his frustration with the humans.

Optimus only chuckled, but to his credit, did try to sound professional about what he knew was a very real fear to Ironhide, _"Very well. You will be alerted immediately if anything happens."_

The Topkick only snorted and closed the link as the humans finished situating themselves and he headed off down the road.

Something still didn't feel right to him, and he subconsciously tightened the seatbelts on his charges. All he could really do now was hope the inevitable didn't happen today.

* * *

Location: underground complex, 38 miles Southwest of Tranquility

"We can't go out yet…" a tall black femme grumbled as she leaned heavily against the wall of a darkened office, "It's too risky still…"

The other figure in the room, a mech with red optics and a slightly taller frame shook his head, "I understand your concern Ivory, but we really don't have a choice. Someone has to meet with our human buyers at some point."

The femme shut down her white optics in thought a moment. Her name was Ivoryspur. She had never belonged to any faction, and she had every intention of keeping it that way. Her entire frame was black except for her facial plating and a decal on her upper hip. Two helicopter blades hung from the back of her helm, bending slightly from the strain of her weight pressing them against the wall. Her arms were large and long, and lacked a wrist joint in favor of large hands and white claws that reached just past her knee.

The mech was Volary; a former Decepticon that was often considered to be her counterpart in almost every way. Where she was prone to loose her temper, he was soft spoken and even would try to be humorous when the situation called for it. Where she was often cold and impartial to their other companions, he was more of an older brother figure. And wherever she would go, he would go also, sometimes following a step too close behind her and thus annoying the slag out of her, but following loyally nonetheless.

After a moment of her not speaking, Volary sighed, "Just this once could you decide _not _to be so difficult? Everyone's been stressed since we discovered the Autobot's and Decepticons won't be leaving this planet any time soon. It's inevitable that we'll be discovered eventually, but that doesn't mean it has to be today."

Ivoryspur onlined her optics once more, a hint of worry passing over her features, "Maybe not, but it could be…"

* * *

Frog: Ok, to those of you who never read it, all OCs (+Sunstreaker) are featured in my one-shot set "Broken Beyond Repair". IT IS **NOT **NECESSARY TO READ THAT STORY IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THIS ONE! "BBR" simply exists to give you more of a background on the OCs since I don't have the time to go over all of that in this story.

But to summarize, they are nuetrals that escaped to Earth some time ago. The last two chapters of "BBR" cover that if your interested in knowing the details. Essentially, their group consists of former Autobots and Decepticons that have glitches and as such were never seen as very useful to anyone. So they formed a band of their own until they were forced from their previous home due to the war and wound up staying on Earth where they run a mining company.

Thank you very much for reading, and the first real chapter should be up within a week. Please review! All suggestions/constructive criticism/and advice is welcome ;) Bye!!


	2. Chapter 2: Abduction

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers. My sisters and I own the OCs and the basic plot.

Frog: Well that didn't take too terribly long ;) Ok, since Diego Garcia is so far away from Tranquility, I've just changed it to "unnamed-NEST-base-near-Tranquility" *sticks her tongue out* XD Sorry, I just had some chocolate! It makes me chipper!

I would like to thank hummergrey for letting me borrow her idea of Annabelle having a piece of jewelry shaped like the Autobot insignia that has a tracking device in it. And of course for everyone who reviewed, I love-ed you!

I really hope this chapter isn't too terribly confusing with the OCs and everything. In the future I'll be focusing on the Autobots more than the OCs as much as possible so I don't bore you all. Oh, and Barricade is in this chapter though I think he's s'pose to be dead, but I think out of all the movie Decepticons he's the most likely to try something like...well you'll just have to wait and see ;)

* * *

**Chapter 2: Abduction**

It was a regular day in the middle of May, by a cute little café that was such a nice place to stay and have a strawberry parfait while you listened to sweet music play.

"I hate this place," Ironhide muttered to himself as he sat parked by said little café. He would never be able to explain why, but the atmosphere of this entire street bothered him. Maybe it was the music or maybe the perfect little window boxes all over the place or maybe it was even the servers that never ceased to drop their painfully large smiles. It was the type of setting that he had heard a few humans refer to as "quaint", and Ironhide had long decided he did _not_ like that word.

He probably could have put up a holographic driver and taken off until the Lennox family was done with their outing, but he felt obligated to stay close by. Currently the three of them were seated at the table closest to where he was parked. Seeing the happy exchanges between mother, father and daughter soothed his nerves some, and occasionally Annabelle would look over and wave at him. He would never understand how, but the little girl always seemed to know when the black mech was watching her, even in his alt. mode.

After a moment he returned his sensors to watching the rest of the area. There was a woman with black hair highlighted with blue and pink strips that walked past him with a scraggly dog that _hardly _looked healthy. Ironhide found his attention irresistibly drawn to the twitchy little animal, feeling somewhat disturbed. And yet there was something else about the duo. Something he couldn't quite explain, but it put him on edge.

"Daddy, why is that lady holding a stick?" he heard Annabelle ask, pointing in the direction of the black-haired woman.

Her mother gently pushed her arm down, "It's impolite to point, sweety," she reminded the child.

Will glanced over at the woman, noticing the long white cane before returning his attention to his little girl, "That means she's blind. She uses that cane and that dog to help her get to where she's going."

"Oh," Annabelle looked back over at the woman as she sipped her apple juice, swinging her legs idly under the table.

Ironhide once again resumed his surveillance of the immediate area. He was almost beginning to feel relaxed (though he could never _truly_ relax as long as that blasted elevator music was playing), when he received a com. from Prowl.

Will glanced up when the Topkick flashed its lights a few times, and he and his wife shared an apprehensive glance before he quietly excused himself and walked around to the vehicle, opening the driver's side door and got inside. He absently pretended he was looking for something in the truck's interior as he spoke.

"Everything ok, big guy?" he asked lightly, partly closing the door to prevent anyone outside from listening in.

"Decepticons at the city limits," Ironhide muttered tensely, and inwardly added a _'See? I told you so!'_ just for good measure. Will temporarily froze and then nodded wordlessly. He jumped back out of the truck, not bothering to close the door and jogged back to his family.

"I gotta go," he whispered, giving his wife a kiss, "You two stay here for now. Annabelle, protect mommy, ok?"

She grinned brightly and gave him a salute. With a proud smile, Will gave her forehead a quick peck and then hurried back to Ironhide. The black Topkick was down the street almost before he could close the door.

"Really sorry, big guy. I guess we should've listened to you," Will sighed, reaching for his gear in the back seat. Ironhide merely grunted in response. As much as he would like, now wasn't the time to chastise the human for not listening to him in the first place. For now, he could only hope that the other Autobots and NEST would arrive before the Decepticons closed in too close to where Sarah and Annabelle were currently.

15 minutes later:

Sarah Lennox sighed anxiously as she fingered her cell phone, debating on whether or not she should wait for someone to call telling her to move to a safer location, or to just go. Over the tall buildings she could just barely hear the unmistakable sounds of giant alien robots locked in battle, no more than six or seven blocks away.

She gnawed her lip, looking back at Annabelle who was enjoying the last of her ice cream sundae whilst staring at the blind woman and her funny looking dog sitting in a bench across the street.

"Look out!!!" someone down the street shrieked. Sarah turned her head just in time to see two Cybertronians charge past, knocking a parked car into a street lamp.

"Everyone get inside!" one of the café staff called. Sarah grabbed her purse and reached for Annabelle's arm as the few remaining patrons crowded for the door in a panic.

"Wait! Mommy the blind lady," the little girl pointed across the street where the black-haired woman was now standing, looking to be at a loss as her dog whined and cowered behind her with its tail between its legs.

"She'll be fine, sweety, now let's…" another crash was heard at the end of the street, startling her just enough that she briefly lost her grip on her daughter's arm, "Annabelle!!" she shrieked as the small girl took off across the street. Sarah tried to chase after her but a couple of teenagers that had been running away from the wreckage accidentally crashed into her and knocked her down.

In the intersection, Barricade transformed to his alt. mode and began his getaway down a small street. But what was that up ahead? A human child? Wait….he scanned it closely as he approached and smirked inwardly.

"Annabelle Lennox…" he mused darkly, recalling the reports that this particular little fleshling held a _special _place in the Autobot's sparks. _How precious._

Once he was close enough he shifted forms abruptly, and made to snatch at the girl.

The dog barked, causing Annabelle to turn around from taking the blind woman's hand just in time for both of them to be grabbed painfully as the Decepticon transformed around them, landing them in the back seat. The fake police car continued moving forward and soon disappeared around a corner as Sarah screamed and the mangy dog yelped, attempting to chase him.

A white van with orange lines running along its sides pulled up next to the dog and opened its door for the canine to jump inside. The dog immediately began pacing in a small circle as the driverless van picked up speed again and started trailing the police car.

"_We've got a problem!"_ came a transmission from the van.

"_How so?"_ a lighthearted voice questioned.

"_It's Illusion! Decepticons got a hold of her! I don't know what to do!!!" _the first voice replied anxiously, its voice bordering on sheer panic.

"_Slag…" _a third voice, this one female, groaned, _"Where's Fidget?"_

"_I-I'm ok…" _a smaller, younger sounding voice stuttered.

"_He's with me," _the first voice confirmed, _"Gah!!"_

The van's passenger-side door suddenly flung open uncontrollably. And as luck would have it, nearly knocked the mirror clean off the silver car that was trying to pass it. The other vehicle swerved slightly as the door was quickly slammed shut. The silver sports car transformed into a very bitter-looking Cybertronian of…the same color.

The mech uttered a long stream of Cybertronian curses and insults, half to himself, half to the van which was currently slowing down to put as much distance between them as possible without looking suspicious in the hopes that it wouldn't be noticed. However, anyone who knew this van personally also knew it was never quite that lucky.

"Hey!" the Autobot, Sideswipe, did a double take, his scans easily indicating that the vehicle that had "attacked" him was Cybertronian as well. It was no Autobot and thus it could only be one thing. Without a word, he slid into a battle stance and charged after it.

"Slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag!!!!!!!!!!" the van sang, driving in reverse as fast as it possibly could.

"_What's going on now?!" _the exasperated female voice sighed.

"_They're after me! They're after me!! Heeeeelp!!" _the van shrieked, _"Tell my sister that I love her!!"_

The female voice groaned, _"Must I do _everything_?"_

Sideswipe's blade crashed through the windshield, tearing up upholstery and the steering wheel, and nearly decapitating the dog in the back. It sliced through the side window as well as the van tried its best to swerve around traffic and get away at the same time. The silver Autobot pulled the sword back, satisfied that he had probably scared the slag out of the Decepticon and sped up just enough to aim his next thrust perfectly.

_--clink—_

He nearly lost his balance as something came up from behind him and clipped the top of his head. He stumbled forward, using a nearby car to keep from falling over completely and looked up just in time to see a news helicopter pass him by.

"Fraggin' human news anchors," he snorted, "Lunatics. All of them."

Shaking his head, he recalled that he _had _been hunting a Decepticon. A Decepticon that was now…missing. Great, just great. With a growl of frustration he skated back towards the main battle, completely missing the white van that watched him warily from a covered apartment parking lot. The vehicle shuttered softly with a sigh of relief.

"_It's safe," _the female voice muttered over their com. link as the helicopter passed by again.

"_Alright…" _the van slowly pulled out onto the street once more.

"_Uh oh…"_in the back, the dog's image flickered several times before disappearing completely, leaving in its place a small Cybertronian with pastel green and yellow paint, _"I must be out of Illusion's range! Ivoryspur, we have to find her!!"_

"_You think I don't know that?" _the female voice growled over the transmission, _"Flail, get Fidget back to base. Pinprick, send out anyone who's fast. We need to find Illusion ASAP!"_

"_I'm on it," _came the cheerful voice from before, though there was an obvious undercurrent of concern in his tone, _"When did _you _star learning human acronyms?"_

"_Pinprick!"_

"_I _said_I'm on it! Spectral already en route. Deathspeak on standby."_

The female voice, Ivoryspur, sighed heavily and her end of the link shut off for the time being. The white van drove calmly down the streets away from the battles between Autobots and Decepticons, hoping to get to his respective base as soon as possible.

"Flail?" the tiny mech, a youngling it appeared, whimpered as though speaking too loudly would put them in immediate danger.

"You ok, Fidge?" the vehicle around him asked gently.

The youngling, Fidget, twitched slightly, "I-I don't want to go back to base yet…"

"What? Why not?"

"It was my job to look out for Illusion. To be her optics and link to our home, but I got scared, and now she's in danger… We _have _to help find her!"

The van was silent for a moment as it slowed to a stop, "I don't know...if we're cut out for that…"

"So? Would that stop you from helping Jadelock if she was in trouble?"

"Ah…" there was a painfully long pause before the vehicle's hood flew up abruptly and then fell back to its place, shaking the entire van, "Ow!"

"Pleeeeease?" Fidget whined, crawling up to the passenger side seat, or at least what was left of it.

"Alright, alright. You're a brave kid Fidget, I'll give you that much. Ivoryspur ain't gonna like us disobeying orders though!"

"Yeah but she'll be in an even _worse _mood if we can't get Illusion back!"

"I know. But if _I _get slagged for this, I'm blaming _you_!" and with that, the van picked up speed and changed direction.

* * *

Meanwhile:

Annabelle whimpered softly as Barricade sped down the city streets with his two captives. The blind woman had an arm around her as she tried to keep them both steady. Had it not been for Annabelle's great faith in the Autobots to save her, she would have been sobbing by now, but even despite that knowledge, she was still terribly frightened.

She screamed after Barricade rounded a particularly sharp corner, nearly sending them onto the vehicle's floor. The woman clutched onto her tighter, gently stroking the young girl's hair.

"Shhh," she soothed, though there was a hint of wavering uncertainty in her tone, "It's going to be alright, little one. You're going to be ok, I promise."

Annabelle nodded her head vigorously, curling closer to her only current source of comfort. Any minute now, Ironhide or one of the others was going to come and rescue her. Then everything would be alright again and she would be safe.

The police car skidded to a sudden stop, opening the door at the same time and sending its startled occupants onto the side walk. The force of her hit with the pavement knocked Annabelle unconscious, while the woman tumbled farther away. Barricade transformed, plucking the child's limp form from the ground as he debated on whether or not he should murder her now and leave her for the Autobot's to find later or if it would be better to keep her alive awhile longer and torture them with the knowledge that he had the _precious _human sparkling they all loved so much.

A strange shift on the edge of his vision scans caused him to look up and into a pair of startled blue optics. In place of the blind woman that had the misfortune of being in the wrong place and the wrong time, there was now a Cybertronian femme barely under seven feet in height with lightweight black armor with pink and electric blue lines lacing across it.

With a growl he lowered his gun on her and fired as she scrambled to get away. The shot made partial impact on her thigh, causing her to shriek loudly in pain but still manage to get to her feet and run into a nearby bakery out of his sight. That didn't stop him from trying to shoot her anyways though.

Once he had thoroughly charred every last pastry, he folded the weapon back into his arm. If the femme was still alive, she wouldn't be coming out, and he needed to get out of here anyways before a bigger Autobot found him. He'd deal with his captive later.

As he prepared to transform, something crashed forcefully into his leg. He cursed loudly and tumbled over the object, loosing his grip on Annabelle in the process. The black femme dove from her hiding place and caught the small girl before she could be damaged by another impact with the ground. Staggering to his feet, he once again leveled his weapon on the persistent femme, only to have the white and orange van that had run into him the first time switch into reverse, crunching the armor on his side and making it difficult to properly raise his gun. Another, still smaller Cybertronian jumped out of the van's shattered windshield and grab the femme's hand.

"Let's go! Let's go!" the young newcomer's voice cried as the two of them and the little girl vanished right before Barricade's optics. With a snarl he shoved the van off of him and shot it through the back window. Flail squeaked in pain and sped off down the street. His original prey gone, Barricade was immediately in pursuit.

The street was still for a moment as though holding its breath before the pair of small Cybertronians reappeared.

"Are you ok, Illusion?" Fidget asked, staring up at the femme with wide optics.

She didn't answer at first, instead staring at the small girl cradled in her other arm, "I'm fine…I'm not sure I can say the same for her though…"

"Is she…offline?" he asked after a moment when Illusion once again fell silent.

"No. But I don't know how serious her injuries are. Humans are frail creatures."

Another pause, "What are we gonna do with her?"

Just as he finished speaking a sleek black sports car with razor thin red lines running along its sides turned slowly onto their street. It came to a stop and the doors opened expectantly.

"We're taking her with us," Illusion answered the youngling's question before carefully taking Annabelle with her into the back seat. Fidget froze, his arm twitched and then he crawled in after her. Illusion settled the small girl between them, her blond head resting on the femme's lap.

"I don't know if this is such a good idea…" Fidget admitted as the doors closed and the black car started down the road again, steadily picking up speed. Sensing his discomfort with their entire situation, one of the seat-belts wrapped around him in a silent form of reassurance.

"Do we have another choice?" Illusion asked softly, "Spectral, I need access to your com. link. And please, drive gently."

The car's engine made a sound akin to a weary sigh, "You know Ivory's not going to be happy about this, right?" a dull male voice filled the vehicle's interior as a wire extended out from the varied electronics in the front dash. Illusion said nothing to acknowledge him and simply attached the wire to a port in the back of her hand. At once, her processors were filled with the streaming conversations running through their com. link frequency.

"_Illusion is secured. We're headed back," _Spectral reported.

"_Good. Everyone back to base!" _Ivoryspur ordered and then added with a hint of venom, _"Unless anyone has any _objections _they'd like to share…"_

"_N-no! Obeying orders this time! I promise!" _Flail put in nervously from his end.

"_Actually there is _one _thing…" _Spectral muttered, _"Illusion has something to tell you."_

"…_Is it important?" _Ivoryspur asked levelly, and Illusion could just _see _the look she knew that would be on the black femme's facial plating if she were standing in front of them.

"_A little…"_the small femme shifted slightly in her seat, _"We have acquired ourselves a new charge for the time being."_

"_Charge as in…"_

Spectral answered before Illusion had a chance to explain, _"Youngling. Human. _Might _actually be deactivated."_

"_She's _not _dead!" _Illusion sighed in exasperation, _"But she _is _injured. I don't know how badly, but I'm not willing to risk leaving her by the road-side in this condition."_

"_I concur!" _Flail chipped in, _"Besides! What's the worst that could happen? She's _just _a tiny human. I'll give Sparkles some medical info on human younglings and we'll get her patched up and returned to her fellow peoples in a jiffy!"_

"_I don't think--"_

"_It's alright Ivoryspur," _Pinprick interrupted, _"I already asked boss, and he says to bring the human in!"_

Some agitated static was heard from the femme's end before a disgruntled, _"Very well," _was heard, _"Let's get home everyone."_

Just as the link was closed the black news chopper passed them overhead, going in the direction of the hilly rural area outside of Tranquility. Flail came up from behind them, apparently having lost Barricade (most likely with some help from Ivoryspur…again), and honked a greeting. Illusion unattached herself from Spectral's wiring and gently stroked Annabelle's hair as the continued farther into the hills.

"She's very brave for a human. Especially one so young…" the black femme mused. Fidget scooted a little closer, but remained secured by the comforting seat belt.

"Her creators must be worried…" he murmured.

"I would imagine so…"

* * *

Meanwhile:

Jolt drove slowly down the streets of Tranquility that were untouched by the battle his fellow Autobots still fought elsewhere in the city. Normally he would be out there helping them, but right now he wasn't specifically needed. The fight was almost over, or so it would appear, and so Jolt had been given another job to do.

In the passenger's seat sat a thoroughly distraught Sarah Lennox. By now her sobs had reduced to sniffling, though water still leaked from her eyes. She had called Ratchet moments after watching her five-year old daughter be abducted by a Decepticon as she had been instructed to do in the event of an in-battle emergency. Word had rapidly sped through the Autobot ranks and if any of them hadn't been furious with their opponents before, they certainly were now.

Jolt had been sent to provide some comfort for Sarah, and to keep her company until her husband was able to be at her side. He had given her some tissues and had patiently listened to the woman's fears and doubts and then would do his best to reassure her however he could. It wasn't much, and he knew there was nothing he could _truly _do to soothe the terrified mother, but he had helped her strengthen her courage that the girl would be found.

Currently they were both silent, save for Sarah's continuing tears. Jolt turned down another road and almost immediately wish he hadn't. Smoke was rising up from one of the buildings and skid marks marred the pavement. He was supposed to be keeping Sarah _away _from signs of the battle. He slowed down and prepared to turn around when Sarah suddenly gasped and opened the door.

"Mrs. Lennox?" the blue mech questioned worriedly, using the same title that many humans gave her. She didn't answer and instead ran ahead to pick up something shining in the middle of the road. She held it up, her body trembling as her other hand covered her mouth. After running a quick scan and determining there were no humans in the immediate area that his presence would alarm, Jolt transformed and approached her. What he saw her holding frightened him terribly.

It was a small bracelet the Autobots had given Annabelle on her birthday this past year. It was decorated with various little charms, the largest of which was a replica of the Autobot symbol that secretly held tracking devices in its center in the event Annabelle ever got lost. But the bracelet was broken, and the Autobot charm was still sparking.

"Why didn't you tell me…" Sarah's voice was quivering with emotion, "W-why didn't you tell me they couldn't track her…"

"I-I didn't know they couldn't track her. No one told me either…" Jolt admitted, hanging his head. Sarah turned to look at him, the pain in her eyes nearly shattering his spark.

"Jolt…" she began weakly, "Be honest with me…do you think…she's…."

"Alive? Yes. I'm quite sure!" he quickly cut in. The human woman didn't look quite like she believed him, but any reassurance was better than none. She looked back down at the bracelet and slumped onto the sidewalk. Jolt decided to leave her be for now, there wasn't really much he could do for her after all. Instead he decided to contact Ratchet with his findings.

"_Ratchet?" _he began nervously. The medic was always in a bad mood anyways and it was only worse when Decepticons were anywhere within a 1000 mile radius.

"_Please tell me Sarah hasn't fainted. You _do _know what to do with an unconscious human don't you?" _Ratchet questioned irritably.

"_Oh yes, I do! And…it's not that. We, uh, we found Annabelle's charm bracelet…"_

_"...I see. Is there anything else worth noting in the immediate area?"_

Jolt ran a quick scan over the entire street and the damaged building off to the side. He didn't find much, but he figured what he did find should be reported to Ratchet just the same, _"One of the local shops has been blown to bits, there's a smudge of organic matter on the road near where the bracelet was found, but I'll need some more time to determine if it belongs to Annabelle. A few drops of spilt energon are scattered about, and a cat has been using one of the flower bushes as--"_

_"I don't believe that's pertainent to our current situation, Jolt," _Ratchet sighed heavily.

_"Yes sir."_

_"I will come and take a look for myself as soon as we're finished up. Stay with Sarah, and then tend to our wounded as soon as Ironhide or Will arrives."_

_"That won't be necessary, sir."_

_"And why not?"_

_"Well to be honest, as long as Annabelle is still out there, I doubt anyone will be willing to pause for medical attention..."_

* * *

Frog: Poor Flail has the worst of luck. He was mistaken for both Decepticon and Autobot in a matter of about twenty minutes! Funny how both of my sisters' characters got to play such a big role in this XD (Flail, Jadelock and Illusion belong to Lizard and Spectral belongs to Hyphen).

Oh, and I forgot to mention, Sunstreaker is going to be in this story too. He's with the OC group. Go read his chapter in "Broken Beyond Repair" if you don't know that story yet and are curious. It's chapter 7 I believe ;) He'll be showing up next chapter.

If anyone has any questions/comments/or suggestions they'd like to share, please let me know whether in a review or a PM. I LOVE to hear what people think! And constructive criticism is always appreciated, especially if you think there's a character I'm not quite portraying correctly, since I know I sometimes struggle with that.

Thanks for reading! Bye!!


	3. Chapter 3: New Friends

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers just the OCs and the basic plot.

Frog: You know, the more I write this, the more and more I'm starting to think that reading "BBR" probably wouldn't be such a bad idea. At least for most of it XP Writing little intros to each of the OCs isn't really going to work.

And...the Autobots did not fit in this chapter at all XP I guess I could have had them still looking around for her, but I think I'll cover that next chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 3: New Friends**

Location: Glitchling Underground Complex, 38 miles Southwest of Tranquility

Annabelle awoke in a cold, dark room. She was lying on a mattress and tucked under a thick wool blanket. The only light in the room came from the large teal monitors lining the walls, including one directly above her.

The little girl shuddered and pulled the blanket closer as though it would protect her from the ominous black room, but found that her right arm frustratingly wouldn't move. Peering down under the blanket she could barely make out the reason which was a crudely crafted oversized sling that had probably been made out of a duffle bag.

Feeling more confusion and fear welling up inside of her she called out quietly into the room, "Momma? Daddy? Ironhide?"

They didn't answer, but there was a shift somewhere off to the left side of the room and Annabelle saw a flash of what she thought were blue optics looking at her. They were gone in an instant however, and she curled further under her blanket with a whimper.

"How are you feeling?" a friendly female voice asked, causing the already anxious child to jump. A strange woman with short brown, fly-away hair and a white lab coat now stood behind her next to the mattress.

"Uhh...where's daddy?" she barely managed to choke out. The woman knelt down next to the make-shift bed with a reassuring smile and for now giving Annabelle a good look at her face. Which wasn't particularly important to the little girl except that she could now see the woman's unnaturally blue eyes.

"Your parents aren't here right now, but we're going to get you back to them as soon as we can, alright?" the woman nodded.

Annabelle continued to look at her with uncertainty, glancing again at the various wall monitors as foreign symbols scrolled by before looking back down at her again, "Are you an Autobot?"

Annabelle didn't know much about holograms, but she wasn't naïve to them either. When she asked, Ratchet had told her that Autobot's used them to talk to humans without scaring them, since for some reason, some people were afraid of the Autobots. Something which Annabelle thought was just really silly because they were all so nice! And she had been told that she could trust anyone who had brilliant, almost glowing blue eyes, because that meant they were really an Autobot.

The "woman" blinked at her in shock a moment. In fact, her entire form froze altogether except for her eyes. After a minute or so, she flickered and disappeared completely as though she had never existed in the first place. Annabelle turned around again at the sound of heavy metallic footsteps further out in the room as a Cybertronian with blue optics approached her spot on what must have been some kind of counter top.

"You know what an Autobot is?" the Cybertronian, a femme, asked with a hint of concern.

Annabelle nodded, apparently convinced this stranger was on the same side as her friends, "Of course I do! My best friends are all Autobots!"

"Friends?" the femme repeated, continuing to stare at her, "How many friends are we talking about exactly?"

The little blond girl frowned in thought, counting on her fingers before shrugging and answering, "All of them! But Ironhide is one of my bestest friends. So is Bumblebee and Jolt."

"I see…"

"Don't you know them?" she suddenly asked, looking concerned.

"Ah…" the femme tapped a finger idly on the counter's edge, "I'm kind of new…to the Autobots. I haven't met very many of them yet…"

"Oh, ok," Annabelle nodded in understanding, "Well they're all really nice and if you get scared I can help you meet them! What's your name?"

"I'm Sparkler," came the answer. The little girl smiled, completely oblivious to the femme's discomfort.

"I'm Annabelle! We're gonna be friends too, ok?" she beamed. Meanwhile, Sparkler was beginning to feel a little sick for numerous reasons.

"I can't wait!" the femme did her best to sound excited for the little girl's sake.

Annabelle looked utterly delighted and Sparkler just about wanted to stick her torch down her throat at that smile. The little human was so trusting it broke her spark to think she had to lie to her for the sole purpose of self-preservation.

"So, where are the other Autobots?" Annabelle asked curiously, looking around the room. It still didn't look familiar to her, but she was sure it was only because it was dark or maybe she was even in a room she hadn't been in before like Wheeljack's lab or something.

Sparkler averted her optics, "Um, the others are all out…fighting Decepticons…still. They'll be back soon and…then we'll get you home!"

"Oh ok," Annabelle nodded in understanding.

"I need to go for a few minutes, but I'll be right back, ok?" Sparkler murmured, leaning over so she was more at eye/optic level with the human child. Again, Annabelle nodded.

But as the femme was leaving, she called out, "S-Sparkler?"

"Yes?" she turned to see the little girl was cowering slightly under the blankets again.

"Can you turn the lights on?"

Sparkler paused before smiling and using one of the room's consoles to adjust the lighting to something she hoped the child would be comfortable with. The med-bay, and most of the rooms for that matter were normally left at the lowest light settings possible for their occupants to function properly. It wasn't that they couldn't make them brighter when it was needed, but considering the fact that they were trying to keep a low profile, they had decided to use the minimum power to run their base. But Sparkler knew it wouldn't hurt to have the med-bay lights on for a day or so, depending on how long they kept Annabelle here.

"Stay on your mattress, alright? I won't be gone long," Sparkler instructed gently. Annabelle smiled thankfully at her, and the femme left and started down the hall at a faster pace than she normally would have used. She headed straight to the rec. room where she knew the majority of their group was likely gathered.

"We may have a problem," she announced as soon as the doors opened.

"Isn't that a surprise," Ivoryspur muttered from off to the side, "What is it now?"

Sparkler opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again, thought for a moment and began again, "You know that human youngling Illusion brought home?"

"Just get to the point, Sparkler," the black femme sighed with a small glare. The medic shifted awkwardly.

"Well…there's a fair chance she knows the Autobots personally…"

The resulting chorus mostly consisted of the word "What?!" in varying degrees of shock, surprise, fear and anger, except for Flail who said "Huh?" and promptly slapped his own shoulder and Organum who merely let out a thoughtful hum. It took a moment for the exact repercussions of Sparkler's words to sink in, but it wasn't long before a definite feeling of unease settled over the room.

"Are you _sure _about this?" Staticshroud asked firmly.

Sparkler let out a sigh, "I don't know what else to think. She mentioned a few names, but I'm not exactly up to date with who's-who in the Autobot ranks."

"Let's see, now who could we ask about that?" Volary mused, tapping his chin. All optics slowly turned towards Sunstreaker as he sat boredly in the corner.

"Aw. You actually have a chance to be helpful for once, Sunny!" Sparkler cooed. He glared at her and then sighed heavily, settling further back into his seat.

"Who did it mention exactly?" he muttered.

Sparkler shifted her weight to her other foot and looked up in thought, "Jolt, Bumblebee, Iron---hold or something like that…"

"Ironhide," the yellow mech corrected with a tense frown, "He's the Autobot weapon specialist. Bumblebee is a scout and Jolt…I only met him once but I think he's a medic of some sort."

Illusion crossed her arms and looked down at the floor, "This could be problematic… I've heard of their weapon's specialist, and if he does have a special interest in the human's safety, we'd almost be better off keeping her here permanently!"

"I knew this was a bad idea…" Ivoryspur grumbled, giving Illusion a dirty look.

"Keeping her here is not an option. The best we can do is limit her exposure to us as much as possible. With the exception of Sparkler and Icefog, no one else is to go into the med-bay for any reason," Staticshroud ordered, giving everyone in the room a pointed look, "If you have any medical issues that need taking care of I'm sure we can use one of the labs or your own personal quarters instead."

"And if we need to, we can always send Sparkler to _join _the Autobots to cover this whole mess up!" Sunstreaker smirked.

"I feel so loved," the femme medic snorted, "And for your information, I'd rather offline myself."

"Either way works for me."

"Would you two just shut up so we can deal with the matter at hand!?" Ivoryspur barked in exasperation, and once she was sure that they were done she continued, "Even with all that, how are we going to get her back to them?"

"There's the police station," Flail piped in.

His sister shook her helm, "Not unless we have no other option. Someone would have to take her inside and you know they'll be asking questions. We can't afford to stick around until the Autobots show up to collect her."

"Um, excuse me…" Quetzal began hesitantly, "Has anyone seen Spaz? He was sitting right there a moment ago."

Everyone glanced around the room briefly, their optics widening in realization. He wasn't in the rec. room, and knowing that youngling, there was only one place he could be…

Meanwhile: Glitchling Med-Bay

Annabelle had noticed the door open, but hadn't been able to see if anyone came in. She had called for Sparkler, but there had been no immediate answer, and so she hid her head under the blankets nervously.

There was a quiet scuttling across the floor, followed by the sound of a cabinet being opened and a small grunt. Moments later a drawer was also pulled out and soon Annabelle saw the top of a fairly small blue and yellow speckled head with two brilliant turquoise optics staring curiously at her.

The head pulled itself the rest of the way up with a cheerful, "Hi!!!!"

The human girl blinked. He was Cybertronian but he was so small! Was he a baby? Annabelle had never considered that the Autobots could have babies of their own, and yet here she was looking at something that couldn't be anything else.

"H-hello," she managed with uncertainty. The small mech pulled himself up the rest of the way onto the counter top, revealing him to be about four feet tall at the most, and somewhat roundish in shape. He plopped down, eyeing Annabelle with intense curiosity, and looking almost like he wanted to pick her up.

"You're a human youngling? Me too! Well…'cept the human part," he frowned as he sorted that fact out before smiling again, "I'm Spaz!"

"I'm Annabelle," she felt herself relaxing. He was a baby Autobot! He had to be!

"Do you want to be my friend?" Spaz asked hopefully.

Annabelle broke out into a smile, "Sure!"

The Cybertronian youngling clapped his hands together excitedly and scooted closer, "Do you want me to show you around our base? It's really big and nice and I can introduce you to—"

"Spaz!" Sparkler didn't mean to bark at him the way she did, but she was more than a little panicked to see the youngling about to hoist the human girl up, especially given the condition of her arm.

Spaz quickly backed away, hunching his shoulders, "Did I do something wrong?" he murmured. He was fairly used to some of the others yelling at him when he misbehaved. Quetzal, Staticshroud, Icefog and Organum didn't, they would scold, but they never yelled. Sparkler didn't normally yell either, but it wasn't exactly new to him.

The femme medic sighed heavily, rubbing the side of her helm, "I need to talk to you real quick, is that ok?"

He nodded slowly, bouncing down from the countertop with ease and allowing her to scoop her up in his arms and walk out of the room again. She leaned against the wall, silently praying to Primus for patience with the often unstable youngling.

"May I?" Quetzal asked softly, causing Sparkler to jump as the spring green and red femme appeared beside her. The medic wordlessly handed Spaz over to her and stood back to watch.

"Now, did you meet the human youngling?" Quetzal began softly.

"Yes. She's nice," he confirmed with a sharp nod, "I like her. We're friends now!"

His caretaker smiled affectionately, "That's wonderful! But if you're going to play with her, there have to be some rules ok?"

"Fine…" he crossed his arms, pouting.

"Rule one," she held up a single digit to emphasize her point, "You can only play with the human with Sparkler or Icefog are in the room," she glanced briefly at Sparkler to make sure this was ok and the other femme's optics flickered momentarily in agreement, "Rule two; you need to be very gentle with her. She's hurt and she needs time to get better. And rule three; if one of the adult bots asks you not to say something, you need to not say it to her, ok?"

"But why?"

"Because…" Quetzal froze, her face plates twisting in thought, "Nobody…likes a gossip?"

Sparkler rolled her optics, but for the moment Spaz seemed to get it and nodded in understanding, "So we can't go outside?"

"No, sorry."

"Ok….Can I go play with her now?"

"Will you be gentle?"

"Yep!"

Again, Quetzal looked to Sparkler who smiled briefly and moved to take Spaz back into the room. Spaz chirped happily as they walked back inside, leaving Quetzal to ponder in uncertainty.

She sighed heavily, shaking her helm, _"He's going to be so spark-broken when she has to leave…"_

* * *

Frog: Tada! Sorry if it seems rushed at all, and maybe I could have put something with the Autobots at the end, but I'm in a hurry because I leave in just a few hours and won't be back until this weekend or Monday XP

So I hope you liked it! Even if I did kind of finish it in a hurry...

Please review! Bye!


	4. Chapter 4: Searching

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers just the OCs and the basic plot.

Frog: Yay for the term being almost over!! Anywhosit, I sincerely apologize if I fail at writing drama. There are times when I think I do pretty good at it, but this time...well this time I'm pretty iffy about whether or not its as good as it could be. Angst isn't really my forte.

And I have nothing else to say? O_O What is the world coming to!?!?!

* * *

**Chapter 4: Searching**

Three days later: Autobot Base

"Any luck?" Ratchet asked as Skids and Mudflap transformed to their bi-pedal modes after a day of searching for Annabelle. He didn't know why he bothered to ask. If they had found something, they would have said so before they got here. The sun was almost set, and the majority of the bots were either out looking or in stasis lock to force them to rest (eg. Ironhide).

"Nope…" Mudflap hung his head dejectedly. His twin said nothing, but put a hand on his shoulder and they waddled inside the hanger. The surrounding humans sighed, some also walking away, others quietly going back to their work and one man punched the side of the tank he was next to with a loud curse before storming off with a bleeding hand.

"It don't make sense…" Epps muttered from where he stood next to the CMO, "If the Decepticons killed her, it seems like they would have left her body someplace easy to find…"

Ratchet shut off his optics. By now most of the base was beginning to doubt that Annabelle Lennox was still alive. If she had been and the 'Cons still had her, they would have said something by now. To frag the Autobot's off if nothing else. But they hadn't heard from them once since the battle a few days ago, and there was still no sign of the adorable little girl that once filled their base with so much joy and endless amusement.

"You'd think so," Ratchet muttered, shaking his helm.

Of course, no one had shared their concerns with the child's parents, though Ratchet was sure they were starting to loose hope. Will kept to his duties, though much of the humor in his eyes was gone. He made certain that all human-related matters were taken care of so that the Autobot's themselves could be more focused on finding his daughter. Sarah was almost constantly at his side with her head held up high though her eyes were puffy.

A decision had been made just yesterday to contact the local news stations and tell them that Annabelle was missing and the day before they had told the police station. They didn't give details of how she had been abducted; only her photograph. Since the existence of Cybertronians was still considered a secret even though the government's cover-ups were quickly falling apart they couldn't exactly give a description of the kidnapper, but at the very least if a body was found, someone may be able to identify it.

Epps let out something that was either a sigh or a deep breathing technique to keep him calm. Either way, Ratchet completely understood how he felt and he turned towards the large hangar off to their right that served as the Autobot's personal quarters.

"I suppose Ironhide has napped long enough now. If I keep him in stasis much longer it'll be hard for even Optimus to stop him from blowing everything in sight to atmosphere."

The soldier nodded slowly and gave him a weak salute as the large florescent yellow mech started off. He found Ironhide, thankfully right where he left him. Chromia had returned a little over an hour ago and was sitting on the berth beside his perfectly still form. She stared off somberly into the space by his feet, every so often stroking the side of his helm. Normally Ratchet would have announced his presence before entering, but he knew she expected him and merely greeted his arrival with a small nod of acknowledgment.

"How is he holding up?" Ratchet asked quietly as she stepped aside for him to lean over the large black mech. Even in stasis a bonded pair had some level of communication through their sparks. It was limited, but it was there and just enough to provide any reassurance one of them might need.

She shrugged slightly, "His spark has been quivering off and on with worry….I haven't exactly been able to do much for him."

"Understandable. You're worried about Annabelle almost as much as he is, but you're a lot better at hiding it," Ratchet muttered, tweaking a few wires in Ironhide's neck. He prodded some device under the weapon specialist's chin and his systems whirred to life.

Chromia snorted, turning her attention to her mate's optics as they flickered online and focused dangerously on the Autobot CMO. Ratchet easily returned the look, crossing his arms as his companion's canons were brought forth. She merely watched them glare at each other for a few minutes as Ironhide recalled exactly what had happened as well as all the data of what had happened since then.

"Now before you two start, could you please take it outside?" she asked dully when she heard her mate give a low growl of irritation and she just _knew _a shouting match was about to ensue, "I haven't gotten a proper recharge for days, and I'd very much like to rest and forget about this whole mess for a few hours."

"Of course," Ratchet nodded, turning immediately for the door. The last thing he needed was for her to get moody. It was bad enough to have Ironhide on the verge of an all-out murderous rampage against whoever dared stand in his way, he didn't need his equally trigger-happy sparkmate to go into an even worse frame of mind than she already was.

Ironhide followed, the hum of his systems becoming an ominous growl as he followed the medic out and the door closed behind them. They walked in silence down the hall, Ironhide's gaze almost literally piercing through the armor on his back.

"Why do you think you have the right to put me into stasis like that? I wasn't going to hurt anyone!" Ironhide finally snorted. Ratchet had to admit, he was impressed. Normally when Ironhide was angry as he was now he would either start by yelling or shooting, so this was a considerable achievement for his self-control.

"Not yet you weren't. But I can guarantee you that had I given you less than half a joor longer, that would have changed completely," the medic stated coolly.

"So? We aren't going to find Annabelle with you trotting around shutting bots down like that!!"

"And we aren't going to find her by you throwing a temper tantrum either!"

"That's better than locking me in stasis for a full six hours!! At least if I'm online I can do something, in a fit or rage or not, it's still getting _something_ done, isn't it?!"

"Except that we want to keep the safety of our human allies and the civilians in mind. We aren't exactly on the best of terms with their governments, so the last thing we need is for them to think the Autobots are a threat!!"

"Well that's fine!! I never liked the slaggin' politics of this place anyways!!!"

"You---Are you even _listening _to what you're _saying_?!?"

Throughout his history victims had compared an irate Ratchet to being the Pit incarnate. But it was _this _look of pure rage he was giving his old friend now that would have made the fiery, brimstone depths of whatever hell you believed in quake in fear. It was a look that few had seen, and none had lived to tell about it. And while it did little to quell the black mech's fury, he did back down a notch and the two stood glowering at it each other in roaring silence, weapons onlined and poised readily.

Finally Ratchet seemed to get a reign on his anger and was able to speak without fear of loosing control of himself entirely and addressed Ironhide is the gentlest tone he could muster, each word being carefully and deliberately thought out three times over before he allowed his vocalizer to process it, "We're all worried about her Ironhide. And we're all still looking. Just because you had to be temporarily deactivated doesn't mean that the cause has been lost. Annabelle is out there somewhere, and not a single bot will truly rest until we find her. So don't go thinking that you're carrying this weight by yourself as it is something the Autobot's are carrying collectively as one."

Ironhide's frame slowly sagged and his canons powered down, though they still remained out. He turned his head, allowing his gaze to be distracted off to the military vehicles that drove in perfect formation in and out of the base. According to the data files not even half of the Autobots were here currently, and those that were had either been searching all day, or were forcefully restricted to the med-bay from injuries during the battle just a few short days ago.

"I know…" he finally muttered, a bit distant as he shoulders dropped entirely, "I…apologize for how I spoke. You'd think an officer of Prime's would do a better job of controlling himself."

He shook his helm slowly, looking almost vulnerable as he continued, "I guess I just feel like I'm the one responsible. I shouldn't have let them go. This could have been prevented if only I had stood my ground. But I didn't…"

Ratchet simply nodded, "That is understandable. Though I imagine Will and Sarah's grief is much worse for realizing the consequences for not listening to you."

Ironhide only groaned in response so the medic sighed and continued, "You're free to go now that you've had some rest," he turned back toward his own personal quarters, "Good luck…"

The black mech said nothing and simply transformed and sped out the front gates.

* * *

Location: Glitchling Complex

Staticshroud laid on his back about fifty or so feet away from the building he spent most of his time locked away in. None of them had been going outside much since the appearance of other Cybertronians on Earth, but the gnarled oaks were just tall enough to obscure and camouflage him for a little while so long as he held still and was quiet. It wasn't like he was expected the Autobots to come crashing through their door today anyways, but he needed out of that office and from the mining business.

They still hadn't found a means of getting the human girl back where she belonged. Every possible method was quickly shot down and the options that _did _remain were unfavorable to say the least. Either they could send Sparkler and possibly Spaz to the Autobots with a lie about their origins and as such leave the Glitchlings behind possibly forever or they could have Illusion take her to a police station and risk her being captured. Regardless, they would most likely be loosing a member of their group and with a few exceptions no one wanted that.

They couldn't just leave her with a random family and hope she knew how to phone home. For one, they couldn't know for certain if the other humans would be kind to her. For another, they were well aware that the Autobots were increasingly active and Staticshroud did not doubt that she was the cause of it. And if they did drop her off with some humans they assumed were safe, there was no guarantee that in their attempt to leave they would meet an Autobot on the road. And Ivoryspur, while capable of being airborne, would be an easy target to pick out.

A few of the Glitchlings had alluded it would be easier to just kill the human and let the Autobots believe the Decepticons had done it, but Staticshroud wouldn't allow it. Not only would that put them on _very _bad terms with both factions if they were ever found out, but she was also just a _child_ and he was not at all willing to sacrifice her life if there was a chance for this to all be settled smoothly.

But so far his search for a solution that would actually succeed in protecting them all had been bordering on hopeless.

He sighed and shut off his optics. Whatever decision he made, he would have to make it soon. Sparkler had reported that the human child was growing restless and asking more questions about her parents and Autobot friends. Spaz could keep her preoccupied for awhile, but he couldn't be there distracting her constantly.

He raised a hand to rub his jaw weakly as a chickadee landed on his foot. He onlined his optics quickly in surprise but relaxed when the tiny creature chirped and flew back up to the trees. He almost felt like asking the bird if it had any ideas. Although considering that its processing unit was smaller than even one of Spaz's optics, he doubted it would provide any useful insight.

The chickadee tweeted at him again, along with some of its friends and neighbors. Sometimes he really wished he knew what they were saying, but alas the language barrier between machine and Earth's less developed species was impossible to break. He lowered his hand back down, startling them and sending them off into the overcast skies. Staticshroud tilted his head to the side as he watched them fly off, facial plating twisted in thought as they fell out of his range of vision.

His lowered his optics, humming quietly to himself as an idea began to materialize in his processors. It was far from perfect, and it would need a lot of polishing but it was a start.

Staticshroud sighed quietly and rose to his feet after scanning the area to make sure no one would see him. Convinced that he was alone—well except for the chattering chickadees—he stepped out of the trees and around the large building into a parking lot filled with holographic cars of non-existent people. The large doors to the loading bay lifted before him and he stepped inside.

_"All officers are to meet me in my office immediately. We need to settle this matter once and for all," _he ordered over a general comm. link. A few quick words of confirmation were heard as he stepped in the door of his office and silently prayed that this would work.

* * *

Frog: Birds. That's what pops into my head while listening to fairy music XP Huh....

Oh well, that's now over with. Despite my lack of experience writing dramatic/angsty (or somewhat angsty scenes) I don't hate it. Someday I'll reread this and I'll know exactly what I could have done to make it better, but right now, I'll just settle for the satisfaction that I finished it XP Even if it still kind of "ehhhhhhhh" feeling.

I wanted to add something with Spaz playing with Annabelle, but I didn't feel it fit in with the rest of the chapter, so I'll do that next time ;)

We are fast approachings this tale's first little climax 8D Will Annabelle finally go home? Will the Glitchlings be able to pull this off without getting caught? Will the Autobots ever give them a chance if they don't? What will Spaz do when his new best friend leaves? Are the chickadees secretly planning to assasinate our world leaders?!?! Am I sleep-deprived or am I seriously going crazy from the suspence of all these unanswered questions?!?!!?!?

*deep breath*

.............

Nope, that fixed nothing XD Anyways, please review, I always love to know what you think. And constructive critism is always welcome if you have it ;) As always, thank you so much for reading and have a lovely weekend!! Bye!!!


	5. Chapter 5: The First Fix

Disclaimer: I own nothin' from Transformers :P

Frog: Yay! You know, you'd think I'd be much more productive over Spring Break XP Guess not! Anyways, this chapter will have some fun stuff with Annabelle and Spaz and then we'll get onto Staticshroud's grand master plan *laughs evilly*......Ok, so it's not actually all that impressive XD But it's a plan nonetheless!

* * *

**Chapter 5: The First Fix**

1 ½ days later:

"Annabelinda!!" Spaz called excitedly, bursting into the med-bay almost before the doors had opened wide enough for him to enter and even leaving a small streak of mismatched paint across the front edge of it in his haste. The human girl peered down from her counter-top castle (made up mostly of boxes that Spaz had found (and in many cases, emptied) and built around her so that she would feel safer when left alone in the room). Sparkler barely glanced up at his intrusion, and continued her work on one of Volary's damaged limbs that had been brought in not too long ago while Annabelle was asleep. That was the nice thing about Volary's glitch, much of his damage could be repaired without him actually having to be present for the repairing.

"Hi Spaz!" Annabelle waved with her good arm. The youngling clambered up the drawers and cupboard doors to get to her and was soon crouched at the entrance to her hide-away. Scattered around her mattress were a variety of things that Spaz had brought to share with his new best friend in all the universes in the world. There were some paint bottles, the majority of their contents now decorating the "walls" and "floor" of her temporary home. Sparkler had provided some extra clean wash rags when Annabelle's temperature began to drop the first night. And there were also numerous random other things that Spaz owned or had borrowed from the others resting in a corner.

"Is your arm any better?" he asked kindly, coming inside and seating himself comfortably next to her mattress.

"I don't think so…" the little girl lamented. The Cybertronian youngling pouted slightly.

"Awwww!! I want to show you outside!" he huffed, "There's much more to do-sed outside, but I'm not s'pose to go out there much anymore…"

"Why not?" Annabelle tilted her head in confusion.

He shrugged, "Quet---er, they says it's not safe…Which I don't understand, it seems much more unsafe in here sometimes."

Across the room, Sparkler could be heard holding back a small chuckle, deciding that she agreed completely. But the younglings didn't seem to notice.

"Why?" she wrinkled her nose. Normally the indoors of an Autobot base were so safe! At least that's how she had always felt. After all, all her friends had promised her as much and so did her mommy and daddy!

"Lots of grouchy bots are always getting into fights. And then even grouchier bots have to come an separate them 'cause fighting is mean," Spaz grinned cheerfully. All his favorite caregivers made a point of telling him that fighting was a bad thing to do, and he knew they would be proud when he told them he still remembered.

Annabelle nodded in understanding. She knew that Ratchet liked to argue with people, and sometimes she was rushed hurriedly from a room when the Autobots or even some humans started yelling. She had never known why exactly, though she had heard what sounded like pained shrieks during one rec. room exodus in particular, but Jolt (who had been escorting her out at the time) assured her that Ironhide and the twins Skids and Mudflap were not fighting, but that someone had merely stubbed their toe. Annabelle understood immediately because she had stubbed her toe before and it hurt a lot!

"Anyway!" Spaz chirped, shifting some of his thin plating to the side to get at a small box he had been keeping there, "I want you to meet my pets!" he leaned in close, speaking in a near whisper, "I only ever showed _two _people this before so you have to keeps it a secret, kay?"

Annabelle nodded excitedly, neither of them noticing as Sparkler ran a quick scan over them both to make sure that Spaz hadn't actually brought something he shouldn't have. Satisfied and slightly confused, she shrugged and went back to work.

"Look!" Spaz laid his "pets" out in the palms of his hands for her to see, "I gave them Earth names because I thought they might like names from their home better. This is Bob the leaf, Fred the blade of grass and Didgeridoo the pebble! He's lactose intolerant," he whispered the last part so that Didgeridoo wouldn't be offended.

"What's lactose intoberant?" Annabelle frowned as she struggled to pronounce the strange words.

"It means he floats in the white stuff that comes out of cows!"

The human girl had to think about that a moment before realization dawned on her featured, "You mean milk?"

"Is that's what it's called?" he tilted his head to the side and giggled, "That's a funny word! _MILK_!!!" he giggled again.

Annabelle giggled too, "Milk tastes good too," she paused thoughtfully and then yelled across the room, "Sparkler! Can I have a glass of milk?"

The dusty-orange medic looked up sharply. She already knew they didn't just keep _milk _lying around their base. So far the little girl had been living mostly and oatmeal, water and whatever the random slag Flail and Jadelock kept on display in their secondary lab that was fit for human consumption. She supposed that she could take some non-toxic white paint and water it down a bit, but she had discovered that humans had these sensitive little things called taste-buds that would no doubt be able to tell the difference. And someone would probably get mad at her for even thinking the idea in the first place so she let it drop.

"Ah…we don't have any," she muttered, but loudly enough for her voice to carry to the mix-raced younglings, "But you're going home today, so you can have some milk then. How's that sound?"

"Really?!?!" the little girl gasped in delight, "You hear that Spaz? I get to go home soon!"

Spaz wilted slightly, "Already? But I never got to take you outside to meet our neighbors!"

"You have neighbors?" Annabelle asked curiously. As far as she knew, all the Autobot bases were kind of out in the middle of nowhere and they didn't have neighbors. Thankfully, the question had diverted Spaz's attention.

"Uh-huh! They make lots of noise when you go outside, and most of 'em run away from me," he frowned, "But I not that scary I don't think. Plenty of other scary bots here, so why are they scared of me?"

"My daddy says that humans are afraid of robots, and that's why you guys have to be kept a secret. Maybe that's why they're scared?"

He pondered a moment, "But they not people! They strange furry things that hide in hidey-holes under the ground and some of them even fly!.....I got in trouble once because I tried to climb this tree to look at one of their houses, and the neighbors got really mad and started yelling at me. I said I was sorry, but I think they still don't like me very much…"

Annabelle frowned, thinking long and hard before she smiled and laughed, "You mean birds?"

"Yeah! Those are our neighbors! And then there are some squirrels and chipmunks and a badger and a fox—the fox is my favorite because she's really pretty and she had baby foxes over the hill last spring! And the deers have a vacation home on the hill next to that one!"

The human girl was laughing and giggling the entire time, much to Spaz's delight. Neither noticed Sparkler freeze momentarily or the soft clicking of a com. link. She then turned towards them and walked up to the counter's edge.

"It's time to go, Annabelle," she called gently. Spaz's expression sank while Annabelle's brightened considerably. Sparkler gently cupped her in her large hands and set the girl on the floor by her feet. Spaz clambered out of the box castle and hopped down the floor with a heavy "thump".

In front of them Sparkler transformed into her tow-truck alt. mode and opened the back door as her voice resonated from somewhere within, "Spaz, can you help Annabelle get in. And remember—"

"I know, be gentle," he mumbled dejectedly, carefully lifting the human girl up until she could climb into the back seat, "Wait!"

He scurried back up the counter and disappeared for a second before jumping back down again and handing something to his best friend, "Didgeridoo likes you a lot, so I think he'd be happier if you kept him…"

Annabelle looked at the pebble and took it with a smile, "I'll take very good care of him. And you can visit whenever you like, ok?"

Spaz managed a tiny smile, but inside he knew that the adult bots would be mad if he tried to visit. He didn't know why, but apparently Annabelle's friends weren't safe. It left Spaz feeling very puzzled because Annabelle always seemed to be saying the exact opposite!

"Bye-bye…" Spaz called as the door began to close. Annabelle waved happily at him through the window as Sparkler drove out of the med-bay. The lonely youngling stared down at his feet for a few minutes before leaving as well. He needed to find someone to give him a hug…

* * *

15 minutes later: back roads outside Tranquility

_"Turn left up ahead," _Ivoryspur instructed over a com. Sparkler wordlessly acknowledged the directions she was given, trying to keep herself calm.

The plan actually wasn't all that complicated. Ivoryspur stayed high above the overcast skies, relaying directions to Sparkler that would keep the dusty-orange femme away from any patrolling Autobots. Due to the cloud cover, no one would notice Ivoryspur either unless they were sending their scans directly skyward, and considering the fact that they were all looking for Annabelle, they weren't too worried.

They were headed to a safe location where they would drop the human girl off and put her under a mild tranquilizer as Sparkler and Ivory headed back to their base. Once they were safe, Organum and Pinprick had a small data-burst of instruction ready to be sent to the Autobots that hopefully wouldn't be traceable.

She sincerely hoped it would work, but like everyone else, she had her doubts.

"Are we almost there?" Annabelle questioned curiously, gazing out the windows.

"Just about," Sparkler sighed, checking her supplies one last time.

Sure enough they soon pulled up to an old burned out farm house and a mostly intact barn. They had already checked the place out and determined no one had lived there for a number of years and now the wood was old and rotting, but there was very little threat of collapse any time soon. Sparkler drove inside the barn and opened the door for Annabelle to exit. After the little girl hopped out, stumbling slightly for balance, Sparkler shifted back to her bipedal mode.

"Where are we?" the human child furrowed her brow as she surveyed their surroundings.

"This is where the Autobots instructed us to drop you off. They'll be here soon," Sparkler murmured, though it sounded a little rehearsed. She scanned the area for life such as poisonous snakes or spiders, but found nothing too concerning. She then pulled out a couple clean wash rags and spread them out on a pile of fresh straw Staticshroud had brought in yesterday.

"Could you come over here?" Sparkler asked softly, the guilt from a few days ago coming back with a vengeance as the little girl did so, trusting her completely as always. Sparkler picked her up in one palm, using her digits to make sure she wouldn't fall.

"I need you to rest for a little while ok? The Autobots will be here for you soon…" she murmured. Annabelle nodded with a smile. The femme paused again, debating on whether or not she should tell her about the needle or just get it over with. After carefully considering it for a moment, she decided not to and swiftly injected the tranquilizer into the human's small frame. Annabelle squeaked in surprise and gave Sparkler a questioning look before her eyelids drooped and she fell back against the Cybertronian's hand. The femme gently lowered her to the make-shift bed and used another wash rag to tuck her in.

_"Skies above, Sparkler! How long is this going to take?!" _Ivoryspur hissed.

_"I'm done," _the medic confirmed, transforming and driving out of the barn so that they could head back.

* * *

Meanwhile: Glitchling control room.

"You're sure this will work?" Staticshroud asked for the umpteenth time that day. As always, Organum gave him a patient smile and nodded.

"Of course. This device will make certain that no Autobot or human will be able to trace our message. But it must be done _quickly_ or else our chances will begin dropping drastically," she looked down at Pinprick as he sat as the communications station. The small mech saluted.

"I've already got everything set to send it! All we're waiting for is the go-ahead from Ivoryspur that she and Sparkler are in the safe zone!"

Staticshroud sighed quietly, his stress increasing as the minutes ticked by. The beginnings of another episode were already buzzing in his processor. Around the room, various other Glitchlings were gathered, none of them wanting to be the last to know if something went wrong.

Even Spaz was there, currently tightly attached to Quetzal's side, whining miserably every few minutes. The green and red femme stroked his helm lovingly as they waited, wishing there was something more she could do for him and his feelings of loss.

Everyone else was mostly silent. Volary had long since zoned out, Spectral and Sunstreaker were scowling against the wall, Sniperkite would pace every couple minutes before stopping to stand next to Staticshroud and then a minute later he would pace some more, Icefog had Fidget and was on the verge of ordering both younglings out of the room before the tension escalated any further, Illusion stood on one of the consoles, staring blankly up at the screens, Organum was completely calm, Pinprick was jittery but managing to keep a smile on his face plates, and the rest were sitting quietly about the room, none daring to speak or move.

Sniperkite tensed and every set of optics became focused on him. A second later he nodded and gave Pinprick a meaningful look. Pinprick turned to his station immediately and tapped a few buttons. He paused, looking anxiously up at Staticshroud. The forest green mech gave a small nod and encouraging smile. If Cybertronians could gulp, the young mech would have as he flipped the last switch. He waited. He couldn't disrupt the transmission until he was sure it had arrived. The instant the confirmation appeared, he flipped the switch back off and again everyone remained frozen.

Organum glanced mildly at her device and grinned, "It worked."

Instantly everyone relaxed for all of about ten seconds.

"So now what?" Spectral muttered.

* * *

10 minutes later: Old Barn

"So let me get this straight," Epps sighed as he and Will sat in Optimus' alt. mode as it pulled up to the abandoned set of buildings along with several other Autobots and military vehicles, "We basically got an email or whatever you guys call it on Cybertron, from an anonymous source saying that Annabelle can be found at these coordinates?"

Will nodded curtly, "That's about it. Though it didn't specify that it was Annabelle."

"So? Who else would it be?" Epps snorted, jumping out, gun in hand, "It did say "_human youngling"_, right?"

Will just nodded again mutely and followed him, allowing Optimus to transform. The towering Autobot Commander ran a scan over the dilapidated barn, "I sense no spark energy in the immediate area."

"That doesn't mean it's not a trap," Ratchet snorted, running a deeper scan of his own, "Keep your sensors up at the skies. We don't want to be ambushed either."

Around them several soldiers had their weapons ready, waiting for any order given. Sarah Lennox sat anxiously in Jolt's interior, wanting to hope but at the same time prepared for the worst.

"One human life form detected," Ratchet stated after a moment.

"Is it her?" Ironhide asked the question that was on all their minds.

He paused, "It would seem so."

Epps and Lennox shared a glance and the latter turned back to the barn, "I'm going in alone. If there is a threat, there's no need to put anyone else in danger. Besides, it's my daughter."

Optimus nodded in understanding before anyone could object. They all watched the barn closely as Will stepped in a large opening in the barn's wall. He looked around, finger always resting on the trigger of his gun.

He heard a soft sound and spun to his right. And there on a pile of freshly cut straw lay his little girl. For a second he couldn't move as she stirred, but only for a second before he was quickly be her side. Her eyes fluttered open and she groaned slightly.

"D-daddy…?" she managed softly. Will smiled, dropping his gun in favor of picking her up and holding her as close as he possibly could. She was alive! He could hardly bring himself to believe it!

"You ready to go home?" he asked, nearly choking on his words. She smiled, still feeling drowsy.

"Yeah."

"Ok. Let's go…"

* * *

Meanwhile: Glitchling Complex

"I miss Annabazooka...." Spaz sighed miserably from Quetzal's lap as they sat outside the heated control room. Fidget had dosed off against her other side not too long ago.

Some of the Glitchlings wanted to leave the planet before something else like this happened. Others were saying that was impossible with their current energy reserves. A few wanted to join the Autobots and one even wanted to join the Decepticons before they became a target for either side. Some said they should just keep with what they were doing and hope for the best. Organum was considering trying to peacefully negotiate with a group of humans. Sunstreaker wanted to ship Sparkler and Spaz off to the Autobot base to cover the whole mess up. Sparkler thus joined Spectral in wanting to side with the Decepticons. Ivoryspur was about to go on an all out massacre on all of them. Volary was trying, and somewhat succeeding in keeping her calm. Staticshroud had long since been incapacitated by his glitch, and the younglings, Quetzal, Pinprick and Flail and all evacuated the premises before things got much worse.

"I know," Quetzal soothed with a saddened smile, "But she had to go home eventually. You wouldn't want her to get homesick, would you?"

His blue optics flickered dully and he clung tighter to the hand she had resting across his abdomen. Across from them, Flail gave the youngling a lopsided grin.

"Hey cheer up! Maybe someday you two can be pen-pals or something!"

"Pen-pals?" he repeated, tilting his head to the side.

"Uh-huh! That's where you get to write letters to a special friend of yours that may live far away," the anthropologist explained happily.

Pinprick nodded excitedly next to him, "I could probably help you out with that if you want to try. We probably won't be able to do anything like that too soon, but it's something to think about!"

"I like it! Ah…" the youngling frowned, "How does it work?"

Flail beamed, delighted that he had someone interested in his field of study and launched into a thorough explanation.

* * *

Frog: Yeah, if you didn't catch that, Flail is an anthroplogist (he studies human culture and whatnot), but normally no one wants to listen to him. Poor guy...

Let's see, what are the Glitchlings going to do now? Annabelle's back, but you know she's going to bring up Spaz and Sparkler sooner or later. The Autobots could always assume they're Decepticons, but if they are, why would they return her? And the Glitchlings are all about ready to turn on each other at this rate. _This _probably won't end well XD

Thanks for reading! And please review! I love constructive critism ;)

Bye!!


	6. Chapter 6: Collision Course

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers.

Frog: This chapter is really kind of short, but it didn't really fit anywhere but itself. I'm not sure how much I like it XP I don't know why, it's just....ehhhh-feeling to me if that makes any sense? Especially the Autobot part XP But my sister says it's fine, so hopefully she's right....

* * *

**Chapter 6: Collision Course**

Four days later…

Staticshroud groaned as he sat at the edge of his berth in his personal quarters. He had recovered from yet another one of his episodes and his processor aches were only getting worse each time. It was hard enough to think that the Glitchlings' way of life was on the verge of collapse but it was harder still to see the effect it was having on each and every one of them.

By now, over half their members were more or less grounded to specific areas of the base to prevent them from hurting each other or themselves. The mining portion of their operations had dropped to a crawl and Jadelock had informed all the regular customers that they were experiencing difficulties and were unable to produce products until further notice. Overall, the entire complex was at a standstill as himself, Organum and his officers tried to decide on a course of action.

Unfortunately, every course they could think of either would result in getting them killed by one of the warring factions or even the humans, or forced them to join a side in the war. And considering the wide array of feelings on that subject, it was actually an even less favorable outcome than going offline. Personally, Staticshroud would far rather they all die together than see the Glitchlings disintegrate back into the warring factions. If everyone wanted to join the same faction that was one thing, but there were a number of their group that wanted different factions and most still wanted as little to do with the war as possible.

So, in essence, no matter what they did, it seemed they were on a collision course with disaster. The real question was, which road would be the least destructive.

_"Staticshroud. We have a problem," _Sniperkite muttered tensely over the link.

_"At the moment, our very existence is a problem. Could you please be a little more specific?"_ the Glitchling leader didn't mean to sound snappy, especially with one of his oldest friends, but his patience with everyone was reaching an all time low.

There was no answer, just a light on his desk terminal that signaled a data file had been sent. Staticshroud stood up with a groan, wandered over and opened it. The security tape that played before him made his spark pulse frantically.

_"Everyone is to report to the rec. room immediately!" _he ordered over the general com. as he abruptly left his personal quarters and office.

Rec. room: a minute later

"FLAIL!!!!"

Volary very rarely spoke in an angry tone of voice. In fact, he was very rarely angry at all. Normally Ivoryspur would take care of the irate emotions and he would subconsciously balance her out with being slightly frustrated or disappointed, but still able to speak calmly. But whatever it was that had made him angry hadn't upset her (yet), and so he was forced to take on the role of borderline-enraged commanding officer.

And it was a _little _scary.

Flail sank down in his seat next to his sister with wide optics, "What'd I do this time!!?!"

The former Decepticon (who looked more like a member of the volatile faction than ever) glowered at him as Sniperkite and Quetzal hurried into the room behind him. Staticshroud quickly joined them as well. Ivoryspur was off to the side, looking confused and maybe even a little concerned as were several other Glitchlings.

"What have you been telling Spaz?" Volary asked darkly, glowering at him.

"Uhh….human stuff? He's been really interested every since Annabelle went home. Why?" he glanced briefly at Quetzal, who was holding her trembling hands over her spark, "I didn't scare him did I?"

"Much worse, I'm afraid," Staticshroud sighed dryly, "You gave him ideas."

"Ideas?" Sunstreaker cringed. Last time Spaz got an "idea" it had involved interior decorating. Or, as anyone else would see it, he repainted the floor and the lower half of the walls and doors one morning. Which wouldn't have bothered him so much if Spaz hadn't use Sunstreaker's paint supply to do it.

"You wouldn't happen to have mentioned anything about the postal service, would you?" Sniperkite queried.

"Well, yeah. That's one of the first things I told him about."

"You told him too much," Volary snipped, crossing his arms.

"I….did?"

"Can we get to the point? What did the spit-spawn youngling actually do?" Ivoryspur muttered, knowing full well that she was going to hate the answer.

"It would be easier if we showed you," Staticshroud nodded to Sniperkite. The security bot opened the rooms large terminal and tapped a few instructions before a video was displayed.

It was security feed from earlier that day, showing a delivery truck that had pulled up to their complex. Nothing new there. However, when the human delivering the supplies (human related things that the Glitchlings always kept on hand) stepped out of view, they saw Spaz sneak up to the truck. He kept looking back and forth between where the man had gone and some piece of cardboard he was holding. Then, much to the dread (and for some the surprise) of those watching, he unfolded the cardboard into a large box. He then proceeded to put the box in the back of the truck and climb inside. At this point, Sniperkite paused the video and zoomed in on a printed sheet of paper on the box's side.

"What's that?" Glasspike frowned, leaning his head a little closer as though it would help him see better.

"Oh slag…" Jadelock dropped her head when she recognized the address. Illusion winced, Quetzal's shaking became more pronounced, Spectral's head lolled back with a frustrated groan, Ivoryspur's optics widened and then narrowed dangerously at Flail, at the same time Volary became considerably more calm, and pretty much everyone else wasn't quite sure what the address was, but they knew it wasn't good.

"This box," Sniperkite began to explain, "Is accordingly addressed to be delivered to the Autobot base outside of Tranquility. And if we pan down just slightly…." he fiddled with a few more controls.

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is…" Flail nearly whined, already feeling death glares being directed at him from around the room.

"The return address written on the box--Will at least ensure he won't get lost," Canto offered, always trying to be the optimist.

"Which doesn't really count for much if the Autobots will be blasting our doors open tomorrow morning," Ivoryspur growled and turned on Flail, "What were you thinking?!"

"I don't know! I didn't think he'd remember all that, let alone utilize it!" the poor unfortunate mech complained.

"Enough!" Staticshroud yelled before Ivorspur could get up and rip Flail's spark out, "Jadelock, I suggest you take your brother to your quarters before someone throws a fit. As for the rest of you, there's nothing left that can be done. Spaz is either there already or he will be shortly. For now all we can do wait and hope for the best. Maybe Spaz's innocence can work in our favor and the Autobots will give us a chance to explain."

"Or we could just accept that we're doomed," Sunstreaker grumbled. A few others muttered their agreement.

"Maybe so, but we have to at least think the best," Volary mused. But nothing anyone could say could shake the sickening feeling that was swirling through the room. After a moment, Ivoryspur stormed out, some others did as well. Soon the room was almost empty save for Fidget and Quetzal, who just couldn't get her legs to move for her.

"Quetzal?" the youngling asked worriedly, reaching up as high as he could to tap on her leg, "Is Spaz gonna be ok?"

She looked down at him, just wanting to break down in sobs, but forcing herself to smile reassuringly at him and kneel closer to his level. She pulled the youngling into a hug, seating herself on the floor as she didn't trust her limbs to even support her weight if she tried to stand again.

"I hope so…" she whispered as he snuggled into her embrace. She didn't dare tell him all the horror stories she had heard growing up of what the Autobot's did to Decepticon younglings and sparklings, and she earnestly hoped they weren't true. Staticshroud had once assured her that they weren't, as did some of the others. Spectral didn't seem so sure though, and Sunstreaker went back and forth. Pinprick said it was because he found her paranoia about the Autobot command in particular to be funny. Most likely because he knew them personally.

"What about the rest of us?" Fidget murmured, breaking her from her thoughts.

She sighed heavily, "I really don't know."

They were quiet for a moment before the youngling spoke again, his vocalizer cracking slightly, "I'm scared…"

She wrapped her arms around him tightly, "I know. We all are…"

* * *

Meanwhile: Autobot base outside Tranquility.

"So you brought the box past the security check-points even though you don't know what's inside?" Prowl titled his head to the side with a slight frown.

The young man, something of a new recruit he guessed, nodded, "We ran a scan over it and we think it has Cybertronian technology inside. We, ah…weren't sure what it was so we thought one of you guys might like to take a look at it. You know, in case it's dangerous."

"Wouldn't it have been safer to leave it at the first check-point and call one of us to your location?" the tactician mused. He vaguely wondered what Red Alert would think when he heard about this one.

"Ummm, now that you mention it…probably," the human muttered, studying his shoe laces.

Prowl was about to say something more when Optimus, Ironhide and Ratchet arrived. They all looked at the box, each running their own set of scans over the potentially threatening object before sharing their findings with each other.

"Well it's not a bomb," Ironhide shrugged.

"And how do you know that?" the human recruit asked curiously, suddenly looking much more at ease with being forced to stand right next to the box.

The black mech snorted, "Because it's not."

"He's the weapon's specialist. He probably just knows these things," another soldier whispered to the first. He nodded, making an "o" shape with his mouth.

"But definitely Cybertronian," Ratchet went on, "It has quite the energy signature as well, though I can't imagine why."

"So do we open it?" the human asked, pulling out his knife to do away with the packing tape. Optimus briefly conversed with his officers a moment before nodding.

The young man carefully opened the box, working slowly and meticulously as to not even disturb the cardboard. He then moved each panel of the box out of the way and peaked inside. Everyone watched as he frowned in mild confusion and maybe disappointment and then tipped the box over, allowing a decent-sized metal ball to roll out onto the ground.

For a moment everyone just looked at it, except for Ratchet who was running scans again. The medic paused, his optics flickered and he ran a medical scan over the ball. Then without a word he stepped over and picked it up. Almost at once it began to unfold. Ironhide's canons whirred to life but Ratchet quickly swatted them away as the ball transformed into a teeny tiny Cybertronian youngling with over-wide blue optics and a friendly smile.

"Hi!" the youngling greeted, and then tilted his head to the side, "Have you seen Annabeluga? She's my best friend!"

* * *

Frog: Well so much for all their hard work XD Poor Spaz has missed Annabelle so much he decided to pay her a visit! But it seems he forgot to tell anyone he was going. What are they going to do now? XD

Actually, here's a more serious question for you. In a few chapters (I don't know how many exactly) I will have a little bit of romance occuring. It was originally just going to be a small scene, but recently I've been attacked by some plot bunnies that up until recently have been hibrinating in the back of my mind and now it's spring again and they're hungry O_O So I know I said I wasn't going to be having much lovey-stuff in this story, but the idea won't leave me alone. It'll still be small, but, well, it'll be super cheesy if I go through with it XD So what do you think? A little bit of romance, or all out gag yourself on bright pink fluff? (seriously, it is _that _bad) XD I, personally, am fine with it either way, but I'd like to know what you'd more enjoy reading.

Happy end of Easter! Bye!!


	7. Chapter 7: Interrogation

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the general plot.

Frog: I tried fitting the rest of the Glitchlings into this chapter but I hated the part I wrote so lets just say they're getting ready XP

But Spaz is good enough, right? And maybe a little bit of dejavu anyone?

* * *

**Chapter 7: Interrogation....sort of**

It took a moment for it to sink in for everyone, but they soon determined that he must be talking about….

"Wait…so you _know _Annabelle Lennox?" Ratchet asked, trying hard not to sound incredulous as he once again ran several deep scans on the youngling to ensure he wasn't equipped with anything they wouldn't expect someone his apparent age to be holding.

"Yep!" the little speckled bot chirped, "Can I go play with her now?"

"I'm afraid she's not available at the moment," the Autobot CMO explained, shaking his head. Which was true, the human girl had been kept securely in the med bay with her parents as she recovered from the ordeal. And no one was quite sure if they trusted this little bot yet, youngling or not.

It was surprising really, that the human girl was doing so well. In fact, she wasn't even as traumatized as they had expected her to be, which only served to confuse the Autobots more. They weren't quite willing to say their were potentially other Cybertronians around that could have found her as the chances of that were slim, but they didn't really have another answer. Annabelle had mentioned two Cybertronians she had come in contact with: Sparkler and Spaz, neither of which came up in any records of members of the Decepticon faction.

The youngling's expression sank and he plopped down on the ground looking thoroughly disappointed before looking up at them again, "Can I have another box? So I can go home? I don't want Quetzal to get scared that I'm gone."

Immediately as he said the name, Prowl ran it through a database of all known Decepticons, and he quickly opened a link to the other officers and Optimus with the information, _"I've found a match for this Quetzal he speaks of. The file's small, and supposedly she's offline, but she is a Decepticon."_

The others nodded and Ratchet went next, _"I can't detect any technology on his frame that shouldn't be there. I would imagine it's safe to take him inside."_

"_And _why _would we need to do that? There's a return address right on the box! It's not like we need him to tell us where he lives!" _Ironhide grumbled, inspecting the box closely as it dangled precariously from his hand.

"_He seems willing enough to talk to us. It wouldn't hurt to know what we're up against. After all, we still don't know if Annabelle was captured by Decepticons or not," _Prowl mused, picking the little bot up and speaking to him directly, "What's your designation?"

"I'm Spaz!" he grinned. Admittedly, none of the Autobots were at all surprised to learn this. Not only did he fit Annabelle's description of the friend she made while she was away but well…..he just showed up in a box.

"That's nice," Prowl smiled, "Are you hungry Spaz?"

"Uhhhhhhhh….." the youngling tapped his chin in thought in the same manner he had seen some of his older comrades do, "Yes!"

"Then let's get you something to eat," Prowl situated the youngling comfortably in his right arm and made his way inside, the others following not far behind.

Once Spaz had some nice energon to ingest, Optimus, Prowl, Ratchet and Ironhide took him to one of the conference rooms where they could talk to him without interruption or too many distractions (something they had deemed necessary when Spaz had nearly gotten loose in the base after seeing several interesting humans, bots and a particularly _fascinating_ janitor's pushcart full of mops and other fun things). After he had finished his snacks, the questions began.

"So what can you tell us about Quetzal?" Prowl began as Spaz continued licking at his empty cube of energon. The youngling's bright blue optics flickered at him innocently before he smiled and dropped the cube on the table they had set him on.

"She's my favorite. She takes good care of us, and tells us stories and is really nice and and…and she's my favorite adult-bot!"

"So she's your primary care-giver I'm assuming? Or your mother creator?" Ratchet asked. It had already been decided on the way there that Ironhide was not to say anything to the youngling for fear of frightening the child.

"Mother crater? What's that?"

"It's…nothing," Ratchet answered carefully, "Is there anyone else that takes care of you often? Or your father creator?"

Spaz pouted, "I don't know what a father crater is either… But sometimes we get to stay with Pinprick or with Flail and Fidget spends a lot of time with Illusion."

The others all looked to Prowl, who shook his helm. No records of any of the mentioned bots could be found in their database of known Decepticons. Silently each bot around the table began to draw conclusions, but did not share, at least not until they had more information.

"You said "we", is there another youngling? Fidget perhaps?" Prowl questioned, not missing anything that the little one said.

"Uh-huh. He's my other friend! But he's busy a lot, so I don't get to play with him as much anymore…"

"_Just like a Decepticon. Having a youngling do actual work,"_ Ironhide snorted over the link.

"_Actually I'm beginning to think that these aren't standard Decepticons, if they're 'Cons at all,"_ Optimus added thoughtfully, _"None of these recent occurrences point to them at all."_

"_Except that they kidnapped Annabelle in the first place."_

For the moment, Prowl ignored the comment, "What exactly does Fidget do?"

"He helps Illusion. Sees, Sparkler told us that Illusion is _too_ small for her ho-lo-gram stuff to work right. When she uses the ho-lo-grams she has to turn off her optics and then she can't see, so Fidget gets to be her pretend optics!"

"Very interesting…" Prowl and the others shared a look once more.

Optimus leaned forward a little, gaining the majority of the youngling's attention, "Why don't you tell us the names of everyone you know. Can you do that?"

"Mmkay. I know Quetzal, Fidget…"

"Can you skip ahead to the bots you _haven't _already mentioned?" Ironhide grumbled tiredly.

Spaz stared at him, looking a little frustrated with being interrupted and then continued right where he had left off, "And I know Illusion, and Flail and Jadelock and Sparkler and Pinprick and Canto and Sniperkite and Deathspeak and Sunstreaker and…"

"Sunstreaker?!" Ironhide repeated, giving the others a bewildered look.

Spaz giggled, "Yeah! He's where I got the yellow paint. See? See?" he beamed, tapping at the splotches of yellow paint on his arms, "And I got the blue from Pinprick and the purple…..actually I don't know where that came from, but I got the orange from Flail and---"

"_You don't think it could be the same one, do you?"_ Ironhide shuttered his optics a few times as the youngling drawled on about his paint job.

Optimus looked at the youngling thoughtfully a moment, _"Prowl, I understand you were unable to find any other names in the Decepticon database?"_

"_There was some brief mention of a bot named Deathspeak, but there's nothing on the others."_

"_Check the Autobot database."_

"_Sir?"_

"_If it _is _the same Sunstreaker, there may be other Autobots in this group."_

"_Wait, so you're saying they defected to the Decepticon side?" _Ironhide's cannons whirred to life_._ Spaz stopped talking, his optics growing wide.

"_Ironhide!" _Ratchet scolded.

"_Records found. Illusion: Autobot special ops. Suffered from a hindrance similar to what the youngling explained. Disappeared without notice. Flail and Jadelock: siblings, were researchers that were fired from their facility due to debilitating physical glitches. Sparkler: Autobot medic that was reassigned as an engineer. Also vanished without a trace. Pinprick: Autobot training in communications. Suffered from a physical glitch in which he was unable to recharge--"_

"_Am I the only one sensing a trend here?"_ Ratchet mused suddenly.

"You're blue and red," Spaz quipped, looking directly at Optimus, apparently having gotten bored with just sitting there while in silence.

"Yes, thank you," Optimus gave him a slight smile before returning his attention to the com. link, _"No you are not. It would seem that these bots did defect it may have been for similar reasons."_

"_But why would Sunstreaker associate with them?" _Ironhide frowned. Ratchet sighed heavily beside him.

"_Because he has a glitch as well…"_

For a moment all they could do was stare at him in shocked silence until…

"You make purple!!" Spaz squealed, quite proud of himself for knowing his colors.

* * *

A couple minutes later…..

"I really don't like this idea," Ironhide sulked as he walked behind Ratchet to the med-bay. The CMO just rolled his optics. In his hands was their youngling guest, cheerfully inspecting a broom they had given him for the sake of keeping him from trying to escape.

"Which part, exactly?" he muttered boredly.

"All of it."

They had finished questioning Spaz when the youngling had gotten excessively bored with the conversation and refused to be helpful anymore in favor of sharing his thoughts and observations with them.

"Can I keep her?"

Not so different from that.

"Who?" Ratchet frowned. Spaz pointed at the broom and he sighed, "If you would like."

"Goody! I already picked out a name for her! Wanna know what it is?" he didn't wait for an answer, "It's Antigua!"

Ironhide groaned and they stepped inside the med-bay. At once Spaz's attention left the broom in favor of scanning this new, brightly lit room and almost immediately his optics landed on a small group of humans on one of the tables that was specifically for the use of Earth's inhabitants (which were normally human though once or twice it had been a dog).

"Annabasalt!!!!" he shrieked with delight. Annabelle looked up from where she was coloring something with her good hand and her face lit up.

"Spaz!!" she greeted, almost as excited to see him as he was to see her (and almost just because no one could _truly _be excited as Spaz was right then).

"So this is your friend, huh?" Will mused, trying to sound friendly though his voice was taught.

"Yep!" his daughter nodded happily as Ratchet hurried to place the youngling on the table before he tried to jump the remaining distance.

Spaz just about tackled her but fortunately thought better of it and settled for sitting himself down just about as close as space would allow, "I missed you!"

Annabelle giggled, "I missed you too. Oh!" she reached into a small coin purse and showed him a little round pebble, "And I've been taking very good care of Didgeridoo, just like I promised!"

"Hi Didgeridoo!" Spaz chirped, waving.

Sarah seemed to relax, apparently deciding that Spaz was in fact not a threat to her daughter and smiled sweetly at him, "We'd like to thank you for taking such good care of Annabelle for us."

The youngling hunched his shoulders with a shy smile, "I make a good helper!"

"I'm sure you do."

Will subtly walked closer to where the two adult Cybertronians were supervising, "So….I heard what happened. When do we leave?"

"In an hour," Ironhide mumbled, "There are a few preparations to be made and Optimus wanted to let the youngling see Annabelle since that's what he came here to do. But we'll be taking him with us when we leave."

"Do you think it's a trap?" the human man asked skeptically. Ironhide could only shrug.

"Probably won't know until we get there."

* * *

Frog: So the Autobots are beginning to form their suspicions of just what exactly it is they're dealing with. Oh and Optimus has also decided not to tell Sideswipe about his brother until they can confirm the information. The time is almost at hand! What will become of the Glitchlings when the Autobots come knocking at their door? O.O


	8. Chapter 8: Nearing Zero Part 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers. I do own the plot and most of the OCs (the rest belong to my sisters)

Frog: I decided to split this chapter into two parts, otherwise it would be very long and it's more impactful I think if you can take a break at certain points...though I might just succeed in annoying you all XD We'll have to see.

Oh and I like Skids and Mudflap. I think they're cute in their own special way (seriously, that's the only way I can think to describe it XD). But I'm not so good with their speech patterns, so sorry if that doesn't go over so well XP

* * *

**Chapter 8: Nearing Zero-Part 1**

It was past sunset when the Autobots set out toward wherever it was that the youngling Spaz had come from. Unsure of what they would face upon their arrival, they weren't going to take too many chances. The potential that this was a group of deserters was high and so they would start with a peaceful approach, but if these unknown Cybertronians became aggressive they were prepared to capture and offline them if necessary.

Inwardly, Ironhide was truly hoping that it wouldn't come to that.

But it was becoming a little hard to wish the best of others when he was the one in charge of sparkling-sitting their little bundle of messed up wiring!

Said bundle was currently strapped securely in the back seat of his interior, surrounded by darkly tinted windows that weren't tinted quite dark enough because the youngling could still see outside.

Spaz suddenly perked up and placed his face plates up against the window with a gasp of delight, "I see a building!"

Ironhide groaned, "Yes. We're the middle of the city. It's _full _of buildings!"

"I like them!"

"I never would have guessed," he snapped his com. link on, knowing that while he wasn't supposed to yell at the youngling, he could certainly express his displeasure to those around him, "_Why the slag am I watching this dysfunctional little—"_

_"Because he's Annabelle's friend and you're her family's guardian,"_ Ratchet interrupted, _"It's only logical that you would be the first choice."_

_"And what was the second choice? Put him back in the box because none of _you_ want to carry him either?"_ the weapon's specialist grumbled.

_"No, our second choice was Chromia,"_ Optimus stated thoughtfully, _"But considering her alt. mode, it wouldn't really do for a motorcycle to be seen being driven by a—"_

_"And your third choice would have been the box,"_ Ironhide huffed.

Optimus was quiet a moment, _"Perhaps…."_

_"My, you're all in a snippy mood this evening, aren't you,"_ Sideswipe mused from where he drove behind the lead three, closely followed by Chromia, Skids, Mudflap and Wheeljack.

_"Why is Sideswipe coming again?" _Ratchet questioned on a more private link.

_"In the event that the Sunstreaker Spaz mentioned _is _his brother and he proves to be hostile, Sideswipe will be our only chance of avoiding offlining the mech and thus losing them both," _Optimus explained.

_"I'm still not sure that's the best idea…" _Ratchet admitted.

_"Did you have another suggestion?" _

_"Well no…" _the medic admitted with a small sigh, _"I just fear that it may _create _a situation if there wasn't one already…"_

_"It is a risk either way, but I think that this one is for the best," _the Prime stated oh-so-nobly.

"Ironhide! Ironhide!" Spaz squealed, bouncing up and down in his seat, "I saw another building!"

The weapon's specialist's frame shuttered with agitation, _"_Please _tell me we're almost there!"

* * *

_

15 minutes and countless buildings and trees later:

The small army of vehicles pulled into the parking lot of what appeared to be a simple mining company located just outside Tranquility. By now the sky was dark as were the surrounding hills. The lights of the parking lot cast soft glows on the silent cars and trucks that already inhabited the area as the Autobots pulled in.

_"Busy nightshift_," Wheeljack murmured as they drove past the parked vehicles.

_"Are there humans here too?" _Chromia asked as they all stopped in the middle of the entry road. No one answered as no one knew.

A car in one of the farther rows suddenly turned on and began to back up. They all watched it silently as it drove around and headed for the exit which…they just so happened to be blocking. With nowhere to move, the Autobots just sat there as the car came closer and closer and didn't stop.

Optimus, who was at the front flinched as the car came closer and blared his horn. Still no response. He started to back up when it reached his front bumper and….passed straight through him?

Everyone froze as the car passed through all of them to the exit, turned and then disappeared a little farther down the road.

_"They're holograms," _Ratchet mused.

_"Very elaborate system," _Wheeljack hummed, transforming to his bipedal mode. The others soon followed, _"They come and go on a schedule and everything!"_

"Hey lookit this!" Skids yelled, charging through a row of the non-existent cars and trucks, much to his brother and Spaz's amusement.

"Can someone _else _hold it now?" Ironhide grumbled, holding the youngling out at arm's length as though it might give him a crazy-virus.

"I'll hold him!" Wheeljack offered happily. The others shared a quick glance before deciding that since he hadn't brought anything explosive (that they knew of anyway), it likely wouldn't hurt either of them.

And so Wheeljack was handed the ADHD bundle and was only too happy to keep the youngling entertained while the rest of the Autobots investigated what they could of the immediate area. There didn't seem to be anything though the holograms were throwing off some of their scans, but they kept looking anyways.

_**Clang**_

Skids groaned as he lay sprawled out on the hood of a blue-green and white sports car, "I found a real one…"

Immediately the other Autobots gathered around the vehicle as it shuttered awkwardly and Skids slid off. For a moment they just watched it, weapons not necessarily aimed at the obviously sentient car, but ready in case it attacked. But nothing happened except for its continued vibrations.

"There is no need to be afraid," Optimus stated kindly, "Please, we would like to speak with you."

_"Yeah if only it were that easy…." _Jadelock muttered internally. She had originally been parked out here waiting for the Autobot's arrival to act as something of an ambassador. However, the moment they actually pulled up and she saw just how many there were, she had gotten nervous and suddenly found herself to be locked up. Which was, now, a little beyond inconvenient.

_"Are you ok, Jadelock?" _Pinprick queried over the open Glitchling com. link.

_"Uh…not really," _she admitted, trying to sound as calm as possible while being surrounded by strangers and having no means of communicating with them.

"You broke it!" Mudflap pointed accusingly at his brother.

"I did not! And it tripped me!"

"Well den why's it not transforming?"

"'Cause its afraid of your ugly face!"

"Boys!" Ironhide barked before they could start a scuffle, "I need you to go investigate that hill over there. Let us know if you find anything of interest."

"Yessir!" Skids saluted, trotting off.

"Wait up!" Mupflap protested, nearly tackling his brother in the process.

"What could possibly be over there?" Sideswipe asked skeptically with a frown.

"It'll keep them busy until we actually _need _them," Ironhide snorted, rolling his canons once at the parked vehicle, "Now let's try this again. You start talking now, or I shoot!"

"Ironhide," Optimus warned, "You are not helping the situation any, either."

"Well asking it nicely obviously isn't working!"

_"Guys?" _Jadelock was seriously beginning to panic now.

_"I-it's ok, Jade. We're right here," _Pinprick reassured.

_"Just hang in there a little longer sis. Remember plan B?" _she heard her brother's voice soothe.

_"Y-yeah?"_

_"It's already in progress. You just sit tight."_

_"Like I have a choice…" _Jadelock grumbled.

* * *

Meanwhile: above parking lot

"Why's it so dark up 'ere?" Mudflap whined as they came over the crest of the hill and started down the other side.

"Maybe 'cause it's night!" his brother rolled his optics, slapping his arm.

"Hey!" Mudflap whined with a glare before something else caught his optic, "Waz that?"

They both looked a little farther ahead at an old, partly burned out church with a large hole in its roofing and a small clearing near the front doors. It was very typical of a simple church that had probably been built over fifty or so years ago. The windows were all broken, the steeple had caved in on itself and there appeared to be birds' nests residing in a few of the structure's more stable areas.

"I betcha is haunted," Mudflap, nudged his twin.

"Nuh-uh! There no such thang as ghosts you idiot!" Skids snorted intellectually, "But jus ta be on the safe side we better investigate."

Mudflap nodded and they began the….very difficult task of sneaking inside an abandoned building that has holes in the wall big enough for Bumblebee to walk through standing up. The inside wasn't much better than the outside. The carpet was mucky and tattered around the edges and the pews seemed to have been removed from the building entirely. But the thing that caught their attention the most was a towering, pristine brass pipe organ in the back of the church. The twins exchanged a bemused glance and crept closer.

Closer…

Closer…

Soon they were standing a mere few feet away from it and they were beginning to notice that it was giving off a strange energy signature. Certainly not something a device made of wood and pipes should have, right?

Before another thought could be spared upon the matter however, the organ resonated to life in a thunderous chord that shook the walls and caused both mech's to scream in horror before the floor beneath them suddenly dropped out beneath their feet.

* * *

Meanwhile: parking lot

"Did you hear something?" Ratchet frowned, scrutinizing the hill.

Chromia sighed in exasperation, "What are those two up to now?"

At that moment, the emergency frequency sprung to life.

_"Heeeeelp! The haunted piano botnapped us!"_

_"It was an organ, stupid!"_

No real comprehensible statements could be made out after that, but the screams and the twin's terror was quite obvious. The others shared a glance, debating on whether they actually had reason to worry or if the small mechs were just overreacting until…

_"Don't let it eat me!"_

_"No! Skids! You try to take my brother from me you—"_

The link broke off into a buzzing static.

_"Mudflap, Skids, come in," _Optimus commanded, but there was no answer.

"I'll go take a look," Chromia started off toward the hill, canon charged and ready. She had just reached the end of the parking lot when shouting could be heard coming from the other side of the hill and she paused, recognizing Skids distinctive voice. And whatever it was that had him was coming closer. She quickly backed up to the rest of the group, who by now all had weapon's aimed at the crest of the hill. Wheeljack turned away, trying his best to keep Spaz from viewing what could quite possibly be a very ugly scene.

A tall, black Cybertronian frame appeared on the ridge, Skids right leg clasped in its claws. It spotted them as well and held the loud-mouthed, still somewhat adolescent mech over its spark chamber.

"Lower your weapons," Optimus commanded softly.

"But—"

"No buts Ironhide," the Autobot leader snapped. Reluctantly, the black mech did as he was told. After a moment of watching them, the newcomer made their way down the hill and into the parking lot until they were standing merely a row of holographic cars away.

"State your designation," Optimus stated.

The other's glassy battle mask drew apart, revealing the pale face plates of a femme, "Designation, Ivoryspur, off-base commander."

"Hi Ivory!" Spaz waved, having managed to peak over Wheeljack's shoulder, "These are Annabon's friends!"

"Wait a sec," Skids craned his head around to see what he could of his captor, "You a femme?"

She looked down at him dully, "….Yes."

His faceplates twisted in confusion, "You sure you don' just have a femme vocalizer?"

"Would you like me to completely detach this leg?" she bit back, jerking her hand.

"No, I'm good."

"You had better be," she turned back to the other Autobots and gestured to the now completely still sports car, "Would you mind stepping aside?"

They did so and in a few steps she had come up next to it. With her free, oversized hand, she shattered the window glass and reached her claws inside. After fiddling under the dash a moment there was a loud whir and she jerked her hand back as the car transformed into a much smaller jade-green and white femme.

"And your designation?" Optimus gave her a pointed look, a tad puzzled by what had just transpired, but he could always ask that question later.

"J-Jadelock, sir," she answered.

"Wonderful, now that we're all friends, why the slag did you kidnap Annabelle Lennox!" Ironhide growled. The two femmes gave him almost matching bewildered looks.

"Kidnap, but I thought…" Jadelock cut off, her optics growing wide.

"Circumstance," Ivoryspur sniffed, "She was injured and one of our own was feeling much too benevolent for her own good, so we took the human in."

"Oh, so what you're saying is we should be thanking you then," Ironhide snapped back sarcastically.

"Just count her lucky that we didn't vote to kill her after we learned who she was," the femme growled back.

"If that were the case, you'd be a smoldering heap of indiscernible scrap right now…"

"Not if I didn't claw your spark out first."

Skids yelped in pain as her grip on him tightened and one of her claws slit through a major energon line. The blue liquid began to pour out of the wound and down his body, causing the mech to squawk and struggle.

"You're only hurting yourself more, you know," Ivoryspur warned as his flailing forced him further into her claws.

"R-Ratchet!" the young mech wailed.

Said mech was stepping forward before his name was even spoken, "Let's try to be reasonable here, Ivoryspur. Just put him down."

"And how do I know you won't shoot me once I do?" she glared at the other Autobots, most of which had their weapons ready.

"He's going to offline from loss of energon if you don't let me repair him," the medic snapped back. Skids whimpered and Ratchet sighed, "Please, just trust us."

"We swear that we won't harm you, or anyone else here," Optimus confirmed, sending another silent command to the others for them to set their weapons aside. The order was met with reluctance, but soon enough, they were all visibly unarmed.

"Maybe we should—" Jadelock began but was called off when the black femme held up her free hand.

"You may fix him. But you'll have to come to _our _med-bay."

"What!" Chromia and Ironhide barked at the same time.

"You may bring one other with you," she finished levelly.

Ratchet began to nod, when the com. link opened up.

_"We can't _seriously _be considering this, right?" _Ironhide's digits were twitching as he tried to force down the urge to draw his canons again.

_"It's a test," _Optimus inclined his helm, _"After all, how can we expect her to trust us if we won't do the same for her?"_

_"But what if something goes wrong?" _Wheeljack questioned anxiously.

_"She did say I could bring someone with me," _Ratchet pointed out.

_"And we will send Sideswipe," _Optimuse confirmed.

_"Why?" _said mech all but groaned.

Ironhide grunted his consent, _"The femme's primary weapons are obviously in hand to hand combat. The space is likely to be confined indoors, so fire power would be too risky."_

Sideswipe muttered something to himself, that either no one caught, or no one cared enough to answer as he and Ratchet both stepped forward.

"Lead the way," the Autobot CMO nodded.

Ivoryspur's optics flickered once in surprise before she turned for the complex, "Jadelock, stay here for the time being. You will receive further orders shortly."

"Yes ma'am," the younger femme tried hard not to gulp. The large doors leading to the loading bay opened before them and Ivoryspur, Ratchet and Sideswipe ducked inside.

* * *

Meanwhile: Glitchling control room.

The room was crowded, but nearly silent, save for the running systems of its occupants. All optics were focused on the security screens at the front, watching the events outside as they unfolded.

"What do we do now?" Sniperkite asked tensely as the two Autobots followed Ivoryspur down one of the halls.

Staticshroud shook his helm, "We wait and hope for the best. But, Sparkler, I want you to be ready in the event of an emergency."

"Yes sir," the dusty-orange femme nodded, a Resetter gripped tightly in her hand.

"What about Jadelock?" Flail frowned.

"And Spaz!" Quetzal piped up, her optics having scarcely left the youngling's frame this entire time.

"They're fine for now. Jadelock must remain out there in the event we need to speak with them," Staticshroud explained gently, "And Spaz appears to be enjoying himself, so I doubt we have much to worry about from him."

"Has it occurred to anyone that the med-bay is a mere two thin walls and one small engine room away from where we're standing?" Volary frowned anxiously. Everyone turned to stare at him.

"Oh thanks, Volary. Just what we needed! Another reason to panic," Archveil grumped.

* * *

Frog: EDIT: Funny how I always think of something to say AFTER I post a chapter XD Anyways, the old church is located just above Organum's lab in the Glitchling's underground portion of the complex (see map on our dA account).

Thanks for reading and please leave a review ;) Part 2 should be up sooner than this chapter was.


	9. Chapter 9: Nearing Zero Part 2

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the general plot.

Frog: Sorry for the delay, once again. Dun, dun, dun! The face-off begins! Hopefully this chapter isn't too confusing. Ah, Sniperkite will be the third Cybertronian in the hall with Ivoryspur, Staticshroud (dark green) and Sparkler (orange which you hopefully remember). Poor Sniper doesn't have his own color scheme yet XP

* * *

**Chapter 9: Nearing Zero Part-2**

"And here is the oh-so-glorious med-bay," Ivoryspur muttered and she dropped Skids unceremoniously on one of the tables.

Ratchet was almost immediately by his side, patching up his major wounds as the young mech did his best to put on a brave face. Sideswipe took a position by the door, keeping a constant optic on Ivoryspur as she leaned against the opposite walls. The femme just stared back at him evenly.

_"Anything to report?" _Optimus questioned over the Autobot link.

_"Dark and dreary. Average maintenance," _Sideswipe drawled, _"Not as big as our base, but bigger than I thought it'd be."_

_"Have you detected any other Cybertronians?" _the Autobot leader went on.

_"I can't even detect Ratchet as it stands now, and he's right in front of me. There must be some kind of interference device."_

_"Figures," _Ironhide muttered.

_"Sideswipe, stop moving, you're making her anxious!" _Ratchet snapped. The silver mech just glowered at him, and continued to shift his weight back and forth. Something was off, something more than the fact that he was practically blind to an incoming attack if he couldn't detect spark signatures, and it was beginning to make him twitch. Sure enough, though, the clawed femme was beginning to fidgit, glowering specifically at him like this was all _his _fault.

_"Just get back to work, medic," _he growled.

* * *

"He knows I'm here…He just hasn't realized it yet," Sunstreaker muttered in the otherwise deathly silent control room.

"That's your brother?" Pinprick tapped the image on the screen curiously. He received a nod as a response.

"And would you say that's a good thing or a bad thing?" Staticshroud asked pensively.

"Well for me it's definitely a bad thing," the yellow mech grumbled, looking notably even more on edge than anyone currently on the med-bay security cameras, "Slag it, he's going to _kill _me…"

"He sounds nice. Can we meet him?" Sparkler asked pleasantly.

"If you don't fraggin' shut up, I'm going to offline you . And I mean it this time!"

"Now's not the time, children," their leader sighed.

"Ummm, what happened to the other little one?" Quetzal asked suddenly.

"Other little what?" Spectral frowned.

"The one that looks like that one," she pointed to the image of the smaller mech that Ratchet was working on, "There were two of them, weren't there?"

It took a moment before Sniperkite practically slammed his head into the control panels in front of him, "Slaggit, he's still in Organum's lab."

Volary let out a heavy sigh and turned for the door, "I'll go check up on them."

* * *

"Good evening, Volary. Anything to report?" Organum greeted cheerily as he entered her lab.

"Ivory accidently hurt someone, but it's been taken care of," he muttered, looking around for the missing Autobot.

"Oh that's good to hear," she frowned slightly, "They aren't mad at my little Ivory, are they?"

"I don't believe so. Um…." He finally spotted the unconscious Autobot resting on one of the back worktables, "Is he alright?"

"Oh he's fine," Organum waved her hand dismissively, "I'm just keeping him in stasis for the time being. The poor dear was so startled I didn't want to traumatize him further!"

"And what are these?" Volary asked skeptically, gesturing to some wires that were attached to the young Autobot's still frame.

"Oh nothing much," she grinned, grabbing Volary's arm before he could protest and attaching something to his shoulder. He froze, his optics dimming temporarily before brightening back and narrowing at the eccentric femme as he yanked the wire out.

"You hacked the Autobot com. frequency!" he very nearly yelled.

"What?" Organum pouted, tilting her head innocently to the side.

"Organum, you can't just _do_ things like that, especially not without permission!" he sighed, "It's unethical and if they had so much as an _inkling_ of what you were doing we could all be-"

There was a loud _clunk_, and as Volary waved his hand in an expression of his agitation, it flung off and crashed into the wires attached to the small Autobot and ripped them out. There was a pause as they both stared blankly at the reddish Autobot's frame before it stirred itself from stasis.

Mudflap's blue optics onlined and flickered several times as he tried to remember whatever had happened. It occurred to him that he couldn't sense his brother close by, which was odd. But odder still was the fact that a feminine face with white optics was peering down at him. And then, his memory clicked.

And he screamed in a manner that would have put little girls everywhere to shame.

Volary stumbled back several steps and Organum reared her head up in surprise at the sudden noise as he sat up straight. He glanced around the room frantically when his optics fell on Volary and his red optics.

He stared a moment before screeching, "Decepticon!" and loosing his balance on the table, causing him to tumble to the floor.

_"Decepticons! Decepticons! Decepticons!" _Mudflap's frantic voice sang over the Autobot com. frequency.

* * *

Jadelock squeaked in surprise as suddenly every Autobot present (well except for Wheeljack who was still trying to keep Spaz from wandering off into the woods after the assortment of crickets and fireflies) brought out their weapons and pointed them at her.

Up until now, she and the Autobots had been getting along quite well…more or less. She had mostly only spoken to Optimus as the others patrolled the area, quietly investigating for anything that might be of interest to them. She had answered a few of the Autobot's leaders questions, like where they had come from and how long they had been here, but had refused to reply to anything in regards to the members themselves or their numbers.

"I-is something….wrong?" she gulped.

"We have a report of a Decepticon on your base," Optimus explained, his voice low, "Is this true."

Her optics flickered momentarily, and she frowned, "Of course. Autobots aren't the only Cybertronians that get glitched."

He paused thoughtfully, "I am aware of that, however, it would have nice to know you had Decepticons among your ranks before now."

"What difference does it make?" Jadelock frowned worriedly.

"It makes a difference in that they're _Decepticons!_" Chromia growled, "We can't trust them, and since you have them in your ranks, how can you expect us to trust you?"

Jadelock cowered away.

_"We've got a situation here!" _Ratchet practically roared over the com. link, _"Sideswipe snapped at that last brilliant little call and that Ivoryspur isn't any better at holding her temper!"_

Optimus' optics brightened as he turned his attention back on Jadelock, "We need you to take us to the med-bay. Now!"

She jumped, "I-I-I don't know if that's—"

"Let's put it this way, do you want your friends to die, or not," Ironhide muttered, charging his canons.

Her optics brightened until they were almost white and she keeled over, frozen stiff. The Autobots shared worried glances (well, except Chromia was giving her sparkmate a dirty look for scaring the femme so bad) but none of them were quite sure what to do. Wheeljack lost his grip on a struggling Spaz who promptly scampered over to Jadelock's side and lightly tapped his knuckle on her helm like he had seen Flail do in the past. He waited a moment but nothing happened, and so he turned helplessly to the Autobots.

"I can't fix her…" he admitted, hunching his shoulders.

"I'm going in," Chromia growled, stalking towards where she believed the entrance to be, "It can't be that complex inside."

Sure enough, the doors opened and Spaz squealed with delight, "Now I can show you where I live!" he bounded towards the door, "Don't worry Jadelock, I'll get Flail to come and help fix you!"

"I don't think that's a good idea, little one," Optimus muttered as he scooped the youngling up before he could join Chromia.

"But _whyyyyy_?" he pouted, pawing at the gigantic hand that was now in his way.

"Trust me. You don't want to be in there right now."

The youngling let out a distressed whine and fell limp into the Prime's palm, "_Buuuuuuuut whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?_"

Optimus sighed wearily, fighting off the urge to say _'Because I said so'_. Instead, he decided a more….indirect and possibly just as feeble approach, "Do you see that spider there?"

Spaz looked down at where the mech was pointing with his free hand, and sure enough, was thoroughly distracted by the provided distraction. He reached down, having the arachnid crawl onto his hand, and watching it with wide optics.

"He likes me!" the youngling chirped.

* * *

"Ratchet!" Chromia yelled as she ran through the Glitchling base. She could hear shouting somewhere up ahead and as she rounded a corner she could clearly see what was happening in the T-intersection before her.

Three Cybertronians were desperately trying to hold back the violently thrashing black femme and were barely succeeding. Sideswipe was pacing opposite of them, cursing loudly and trying to find a way past Ratchet who had positioned himself in front of the young mech to keep him back.

"Use the Pit-slaggin' Resetter already!" shouted the dark green mech as he struggled to retain his choke-hold on the taller femme's neck. Another femme, this one more of an orange-type color, glared at him momentarily from where she was holding back one of her larger counterpart's limbs.

"I would but if I let go of her arm now, I'll likely loose my entire upper body!" she shrieked as the black femme tried to swing said arm, slamming the orange's back into the wall behind her with a pained yelp.

"Well we can't very well just hold her like this much longer!" a second mech who was having an easier time with the femme's other arm, growled. Chromia noted absently that his optics looked oddly unfocused and maybe even glazed.

"Alright, everyone stand down!" Chromia barked, swiftly and deliberately aiming her gun at Sideswipe first. She would not offline him, but they both knew he'd likely be confined to the med-bay for several days if she was forced to fire. Sideswipe glowered murderously at her but slowly began to relax his battle ready position. Satisfied, Chromia rotated to point her canons at the black femme expectantly.

"That isn't gonna work right now!" the dusty-orange femme grunted.

Again, Ivoryspur tried to yank her arm loose from the grip of her weakest captor and this time managed to fling the smaller femme off and back behind her. With one set of deadly claws and the ability to use more momentum against them, she quickly had the two mechs off as well and leaving no one between herself and the Autobots.

"Everyone stay back and for Primus sake don't shoot her!" the dark green mech ordered, holding his partly sliced through left-hand close to his chassis as he started a buzz-saw.

He whipped the tethered saw forward, sending it's ripping force into the femme's shoulder and stopping her mid-lunge. Just as quickly as he had damaged her, he yanked the saw back. Ivoryspur arched her back, but that was the only sign that she was in pain as she rounded on the three Glitchlings, clawed arms poised aggressively to either side of her body and blocking the hall.

"Sparkler, get around behind her," the green mech muttered quietly, making a point to give Ivoryspur optic-contact, ensuring that her battle-programming would continue to label him as her greatest threat and thus distract her long enough to apply the Resetter.

The orange femme could only stare at him for a second before the other mech present shoved her down another hallway.

"What's going on?" Chromia demanded, charging her canon to its full capacity as she watched Ivoryspur turn on one of her own.

"I said don't shoot! You'll only make it worse!" the green mech yelled back.

The next second passed by too quickly for even the present Cybertronians to process right away. Ivoryspur let out a feral screech and swung her arm back and then forward as though to come up and rip her opponent's head clean off, Sideswipe and Ratchet were roughly shoved out of the way by two forms coming up behind them that quite literally tackled the black femme to the ground, one of them practically stabbing something into the back of her neck as they did so. Her systems went silent and her frame lay limp and all but lifeless on the floor. In front of her, the dark green mech she had come a few mere inches from offlining reset his optics and wavered on his feet at the close encounter. Sparkler arrived behind Chromia and skidded to a halt at the site before her. The two newcomers stumbled slightly to their feet as they tried to navigate their way off and around the unconscious femme, one black, orange and dark violet and the other black and yellow. A particular black and yellow that the Autobot's present found all too familiar.

"Sunstreaker?" Chromia was the first to speak. Ironhide had briefly mentioned something about the missing twin, but she had been prepping her weapons at the time and not really paying attention.

He flinched visibly but didn't look back at them. Beside him the skinnier black and orange mech, Deathspeak, was retrieving the Resetter from Ivoryspur's neck cables, allowing her to online once more. Ratchet glanced nervously back at Sideswipe who now stood frozen, optics completely focused on his brother's equally immobile frame.

The silence seemed endless as almost every pair of optics flicked back and for between the twins. Both of them wore almost identically blank expressions and both their frame's were so rigid that they looked like they could almost break. Even as she rose back to her feet, Ivoryspur said nothing and merely watched them as well.

"You….." Sideswipe's vocalizer cracked, "Y-you've been h-here the whole time…?"

It was more a statement than a question but Sunstreaker didn't answer either way. In fact, he still wasn't moving at all, though his expression had grown considerably more drawn. But the silence all the answer his brother needed. The silver mech narrowed his optics and ever-so-slightly changed his stance.

"Sideswipe, don't do this," Ratchet warned. Sunstreaker glanced back over his shoulder, though he refused to look directly at his brother, and slowly turned around, ready to defend himself if and when Sideswipe snapped.

"I'm only going to say this once, move out of my way," the silver mech ground out.

"Now is not the time," the medic continued, using the calmest tone of voice he could muster.

"He just _LEFT_!" Sideswipe yelled, waving his sword in his brother's general direction, "No explanation. No goodbye. Not even a note? What…." He rubbed a hand over his face plates, "….What kind of mech does that to his only twin?"

The growing anguish in his voice caused Sunstreaker to wince. He opened his mouth to speak once, but his vocalizer wouldn't produce anything but static. He tried opening their bond a sliver, but Sideswipe would have none of it and only sent sharp bursts of pain in return before cutting him off as completely as he could. The yellow mech was barely aware of the other Glitchlings, Sparkling and Ivoryspur included, pressing closer, either to protect him if things took a turn for the worst or simply to provide moral support. Whichever he needed the most of, they were there to provide it for a fellow member of their group.

Again there was silence as everyone was left staring at each other. It felt as though the atmosphere could explode at the tiniest spark of fire. Sideswipe could lash out at his brother, Ivoryspur could go on another homicidal rampage, Chromia and Ratchet were absently worried that other neutrals could come out and subdue them all, and the Glitchlings were essentially thinking the same thing.

Ratchet knew that Sideswipe wasn't foolish enough to try and attack his fellow Autobots no matter how betrayed he felt. He also doubted that the silver mech would actually offline his brother, even in a blind rage. Still he wasn't willing to take any chances and knew they had to calm him down somehow.

"Sideswipe," he tried again as he watched the mech's blue optics scanning for an opening to get past him and Chromia, "attacking your brother will solve nothing, so put your swords away."

Sideswipe glared at him, but did as he was asked. For a brief moment Ratchet believed all was well, until Sideswipe raised one of his arms with a charging gun and fired. Sunstreaker barely moved out of the way, letting the blast clip the side of Deathspeak's helm.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! " the slender mech whined repeatedly.

"Sideswipe!" Ratchet roared, smacking the younger mech upside the head.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!"

The silver mech didn't answer, just continued to glare at his brother who was finally glaring back. It wasn't much but at least he was acknowledging his brother was there.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"It couldn't have hurt _that _badly!" Chromia huffed, spinning to face the complaining mech as he continued to repeat himself in a quieter voice. Sniperkite uttered a heavy sigh and promptly hitting the other mech on the top of the helm to break his rewind-repeat pattern of speech.

For a moment, the light blue femme could only stare at them, "I'm not sure I want to know…"

"Oh good, everyone's all right!" another femme voice trilled. They turned to see Organum sauntering down the hall, cradling a quite comfortable looking Mudflap in her arms. Volary was following behind her and behind him were Optimus and Ironhide.

"I assume the situation has been resolved?" the Autobot leader asked, looking most specifically at Ratchet.

"Not really," the medic sighed, sending a quick burst of information via com. link. Optimus frowned, but nodded in understanding.

"Who is in charge here?" the tall red a blue mech looked expectantly at the assembled Glitchlings.

"And where's my bro?" Mudflap quipped with a small frown.

"Receiving an energon transfusion," Ratchet explained, gesturing at the med-bay doors behind him. Organum set the small mech down and he meandered somewhat awkwardly into the med-bay to visit his recovering twin.

Once he was gone, Staticshroud finally stepped forward, looking a little worse for the wear and maybe even a little awestruck that he was actually standing in the same hallways as Optimus Prime, "I am Staticshroud, and I'm considered the Glitchling leader."

Optimus gave a thoughtful hum and nodded, "Is there any chance that we can talk after your injuries have been tended to?"

"Ah…" the dark green mech glanced back at his fellow Glitchlings, "I suppose. So long as I have your word that nothing will happen to my group."

"They are free to stay within the confines of your base while my bots wait outside to prevent any further incidences," the Autobot leader explained, "But I don't think we can afford to avoid this matter any longer than we already have."

"And what will happen to us?" Sniperkite asked hesitantly.

The Prime paused, "We will have to wait and see how your story checks out as well as the reaction the human governments will have."

He pointedly left out the fact that the Autobots may have to take them into protective custody until then. Optimus knew more about the human politicians than he could ever want, and so he was quite certain they wouldn't be taking the fact that they had been housing a small alien community for "x" number of years before the Cybertronian war even came to Earth. He had already messaged Lennox about the situation before coming inside and cargo planes were being prepped to take the neutrals to Diego Garcia where they could be placed under close surveillance as well as distance them from the human population.

But he would have to discuss that with Staticshroud in private so they could figure out the best way of handling this already fragile situation to prevent it from getting any worse. And so calling for the rest of the Autobots to leave, he turned to the exit to wait for the Glitchling leader to be repaired.

* * *

Soundwave floated silently in orbit around the primitive planet they were so unfortunate to be fighting on, and most recently, been fighting over. He personally found the whole thing to be ridiculous but thus far he hadn't actually had to make landfall so it was tolerable.

He ran another scan on the area he had been observing for the past hour. Several Autobot signatures and the single unmarked signature were nearby and there was still that energy field that was preventing him from sensing any others. But he was steadily working through that and it wouldn't be long before he had a full reading.

He had actually noted unmarked Cybertronian spark signatures in the area before but every time he reported it to Megatron, the Decepticon leader had merely dismissed it as probably some human technology since he was sure they would have noticed if a factionless Cybertronian had managed to make landfall on the planet. This didn't make any sense to Soundwave either because the pathetic, fleshy humans could not _possibly _come up with such advanced technologies even if they had a hundred of their planetary cycles to do so.

But no more would Soundwave's observations be ignored. After all, if there was anything interesting enough for Optimus Prime to investigate it, then Megatron would be _three times _as interested as the Autobot leader if not more. In fact, Soundwave had already sent him his findings and was keenly aware that a set of drones were being set up to go and run a more in depth investigation.

Soundwave sincerely hoped that the drones didn't kill the factionless Cybertronian and would bring it back alive (Soundwave suspected there were more than one, but he was yet to prove this theory). He would very much like to probe their processors to figure out _why _in Primus' name _any _mech/femme or otherwise would want to stay in such a filthy place. Backwater, as the human's called it, and it was a very fitting phrase as far as the Decepticon was concerned.

Absolutely revolting, just like its inhabitants.

Sure enough, he suddenly received instruction to begin coordinating the droid-unit's attack and Soundwave began planning, fine-tuning his sensors to the designated area for the best plan of attack. Uneven landscape, it would be easy to set up an attack, especially if they stuck near the edges of the range of the device that prevented him from sensing the other spark signatures within. Or rather, _had _been preventing, he had more or less worked his way past it now and could figure out several more unmarked signatures as well as some very fuzzy Decepticon ones.

Deserters?

_"Lord Megatron, there has been a slight change in the situation,"_ he sent, his emotionless tone holding a colder edge than normal.

* * *

Frog: O.O There are Decepticons in this story? In the immortal words of my sister Lizard: _"Egad Man!"_

A (hopefully) thrilling climax is approaching! How will the Glitchlings fare when it's all over?

Thank you for reading, as usual. And please let me know if this chapter was confusing so I can try to fix it. And if it wasn't too confusing you know I love to recieve reviews anyways to know what you think!


	10. Chapter 10: Detonate

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers, just the plot and most of the OCs.

Frog: I feel kind of sad. A lot of the OCs have taken a way in the back of the bus seat and haven't even had much of a chance to appear in the story XP But you'll be briefly reintroduced to them here. And I may be expanding "Broken Beyond Repair" (either that or start another self-indulgent one-shot series) so that they won't be so lonely anymore.

ANYWAYS, lots of stuff happens in this chapter and yet it isn't actually as long as I thought it'd be! I intended to put the mini-twins in this chapter as well, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were being really...pushy (you'll see what I mean). So for the time being Skids and Mudflap are still in the med-bay. The only other thing I can think to mention is there might be slight hints of an OCxcanon pairing in here, but it probably won't be going much farther than this.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Detonate**

As the Autobots filtered back outside of the Glitchling complex they came upon a somewhat unusual sight. Wheeljack was kneeling in the middle of the parking lot as he held a very heated argument with Spaz.

"Look!" the scientist huffed in exasperation as he held something miniscule out in his hand towards the youngling, "You see those? That means it's female!"

"No, it's boy! I named him, he's my pet, I know what he is and you have no clues what you're talking about!"

"I'm a _scientist_! I always know what I'm talking about!" he thought that fact over a moment before correcting himself, "Well…most of the time. But _this _I know for sure!"

Optimus sighed heavily, "You're _still _arguing over the arachnid's gender?"

Wheeljack jumped to his feet, hiding the spider behind him, "Boss! Back so soon?"

"Give him back! He doesn't like you, you called him a _girl_!" Spaz whined, jumping at Wheeljack's hands even though he couldn't hope to come close to the adult mech's waist.

"For the last time! Your spider is _female_!" Wheeljack shook his helm, his side fins flashing in irritation, "Honestly, what is with younglings these days?"

"Most aren't Spaz?" Ironhide offered with a shrug.

Optimus smirked in amusement at the youngling and knelt down closer to his level, optics flicking back and forth between him and Wheeljack, "How about we make a compromise then. The spider is neither a "he" nor a "she" but an "it"."

The two previously argument Cybertronians frowned, "It?"

"But that's—" Wheeljack quickly cut off his vocalizer at the look the Autobot leader gave him.

"And I think _"it" _would very much like to go home," Optimus finished.

"But…." Spaz pouted, looking up at where he could just barely see the spider crawling on the scientist's hands.

"It might have a family," Optimus continued, "You wouldn't want to keep it away from its little spiderlings would you?"

"Spiderlings?"

"Baby spiders, essentially," Wheeljack clarified, "They're actually quite fascinating for being so small. Did you know they've been—"

"Not now Wheeljack," Optimus sighed heavily.

"Ok."

"Well little one? Can your spider friend go home?" the Autobot leader questioned gently. Wheeljack knelt down next to him, holding out the hand that had the spider on it. Spaz gazed at his new friend/pet for a long time before nodding slowly.

"Ok…"

Optimus smiled and patted him gently on the head as the youngling took the spider from Wheeljack's hands. He allowed the scientist to guide him to the edge of the parking lot where they set about finding the perfect place to send the spider on its way.

A moment later, the base doors opened again to reveal a small black, pink and blue femme. She went first to Jadelock who had been left frozen on the ground and fiddled with a few wires in the back of her helm until she jerked back to life.

"How are you feeling?" Optimus asked worriedly as the green and white femme staggered to her feet.

"Oh I'm fine," she answered quickly, observing a small dent in her shoulder, "This happens….a lot…"

"If you're ready, Staticshroud can speak with you now," the smaller femme, Illusion stated, inclining her head politely.

"Very well," Optimus nodded and allowed her to lead him back inside with Jadelock following not far behind.

They didn't have to go far before they came to an unassuming door off to the side of the large shipping room and Illusion gestured for him to enter. Within was a small office with a desk and some chairs. Staticshroud jumped when he entered, apparently having been pacing despite the small size of the room.

"Ah welcome," he greeted, looking around, "I'm afraid we don't have any chairs that are built for your size…"

"That isn't a problem," the Autobot leader offered a small smile before setting straight to business, "Now if you could give me a _complete _history of your group as it pertains to Earth?"

Staticshroud sighed and settled himself for what was likely going to be a very long and very stressful discussion.

* * *

"Everyone calm down!" Volary tried to yell over the panicky din in the Glitchling control room.

"But what if their leader kills ours?" Quetzal squeaked, her entire frame trembling, "And Spaz is still out there! Didn't anyone think to get him?"

"Uhhh…..sorry…." Jadelock muttered, "I was just so desperate to get back inside, I wasn't thinking."

"I'm sure he's fine, Quetzal," Volary tried as best he could to console her, "They haven't hurt him so far, I highly doubt that's going to change."

"How can you be so sure!" she screeched, half in anger and half in desperation, "Wh-what if they—"

Sunstreaker slammed his hand down on the console he had been leaning against and turned on her, "I've told you before, the Autobot command **_don't _**eat younglings! I don't care what horror stories your fragged up caretakers told you! Now will you all just shut up, my processor hurts enough as it is!"

Quetzal curled up into a tight ball, her red optics wide as she looked up at him. The yellow mech glared at her a moment longer before turning away in disgust as he muttered under his breath, "Typical Decepticon."

He turned around and suddenly found himself face-to-face with Canto. The normally flamboyant mech wasn't smiling as he usually was. If anything he looked disappointed as he crossed his arms, "There are no Decepticons here."

Many of the others looked at him in confusion as he continued, this time addressing all of them, "Neither is there an Autobot near. It's time our former factions disappear so that what is Glitchling will be clear."

For a moment everyone was silent until Sniperkite stepped forward, "He's right."

He retrieved an energon knife from his subspace and raised it up to his shoulder where his damaged Autobot insignia lay. He carefully slid the knife underneath and began to pry it off. It fell to the metal floor with a resounding clang that reverberated through the frames of everyone present. Sniperkite stared at the knife for a moment until he felt someone step closer to his side. Pinprick looked up at him, almost awestruck as he hesitantly extended his hand. Sniperkite smiled and handed him the knife, allowing the young mech to remove his own brand.

And so the knife went around the room, allowing those that had them to remove their insignias. Quetzal stared at her Decepticon brand as it lay silent on the floor by her feet, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from her that she hadn't even known was there. She turned hesitantly to Sunstreaker and was about to offer the knife to him but paused.

"You don't have to," she murmured, "I think we'll understand if you don't."

The yellow mech barely glanced up to see the faint nods of those around him. After contemplating it a moment he very slowly reached towards her and allowed the femme to place the knife in his hand. For several long second he could only stare at the energy-laced blade as he mulled over his choices. Then before he could change his mind, he quickly sliced off his own Autobot brand and let it clatter to the floor.

A few of the Glitchlings were surprised but most were smiling as he handed the knife off to the next bot in line. Very soon every brand in the room had been removed and for the first time in a long time the Glitchlings truly felt that they were one entity. Archveil looked up with something of a lopsided-reminiscent smile.

"You know what Spaz would say if he were in here," she chuckled dryly. Several shared amused glances and then as one they all stepped forward and joined together in a group embrace.

"So from now on," Volary was trying desperately to keep the smile on his face from turning into a ridiculous grin, "we're Glitchlings. And no matter what happens to us today or tomorrow, we're going to stick together as a group and a family, understand?"

Several murmurs and even a few elated shouts of confirmation were heard.

"Staticshroud's going to be so proud of you kids!" Organum practically sang.

* * *

"So there's no getting around this is there…" Statichshroud muttered, holding his helm in his hands.

"Not without endangering your group further," Optimus explained softly, "If we don't take your Glitchlings to Diego Garcia then who is to say what the human governments will do. We can't stand sentry here to protect you, but we can there."

The forest green mech muttered something unintelligible and so the Autobot leader continued, "I cannot force your decision. Trust me, the last thing I want is for more altercations to break out. However, I _strongly _advise it if you wish to give your group the best chance at survival."

"And what'll happen to our base?"

Optimus looked up thoughtfully a moment, "Take as much of your belongings as you can with you and store the rest where any human investigative parties will be unable to find it. I am obligated to tell them where your base is located, not its size."

"Very well," Staticshroud sighed heavily, "I will consult with my two sub-commanders and Organum. We'll let you know our decision shortly."

Optimus nodded and began turning for the door before pausing as he thought of something more to say, "I would like to apologize to you and any other former Autobots in your group for the unfair treatment you received. I hope that in the future this will not happen again."

Staticshroud nodded in acknowledgment, "I'll be sure to tell them your sentiment."

"Thank you," and with that, the Autobot leader left.

* * *

Ten minutes later:

"Why do I feel like we're facing a firing squad?" Sparkler muttered dryly as the Glitchlings were lined up outside of their base.

"Sparkler please, don't start this now," Staticshroud sighed heavily. It had been a very short discussion, but the decision had been made for the Glitchlings to go with the Autobots to Diego Garcia. The decision had not been unanimous, but with their renewed sense of fellowship, no one was going to separate from the others just for this. And now Optimus wanted to know everyone's names and positions for future reference. Thus the lining up.

_"There are more of them than I thought there'd be,"_ Wheeljack muttered over the Autobot com.

_"That may be, but only a handful of them are armed," _Ironhide snorted, clearly not impressed by the ragtag group of neutrals.

"Optimus Prime, I would like to begin with my sub-commanders: On-Base Commander Volary and you've met Off-Base Commander Ivoryspur."

"Of course," the Prime nodded politely to them both. Volary returned the gesture while Ivory continued to stare resolutely out into space.

"My other officers: Security-Head Sniperkite, Chief Medical Officer Sparkler, Communications-Head Pinprick, and Head Mine-Tech and Architect Archveil."

_"Most of them are still so young…" _Ratchet mused, shaking his helm.

_"But they seem to be doing fine anyways. More or less," _Wheeljack shrugged.

"Then we have our Pilot Braimond and Navigator Canto."

"Pilot?" Ironhide repeated aloud.

"How else did you think we got here," Braimond snorted indignantly. Ironhide growled slightly but said nothing as Optimus gave him a pointed look and Staticshroud continued.

"Illusion here is our Recruitment Officer. Deathspeak and Sapsucker are our other mine techs. Icefog is our other medic and the local youngling expert."

"Speaking of younglings," the spring green and red femme next to Icefog coughed, "Um….where is….Spaz?"

"And you must be Quetzal," Optimus smiled. She nodded shyly, looking almost panicked at being addressed by the Autobot Leader.

"He's right here!" Wheeljack announced, holding the youngling up. Spaz flickered his optics innocently and looked around.

"Quetzool!" he cheered with delight, reaching towards her. Optimus gently took the youngling and returned him to his caretaker. Spaz immediately latched onto her and nuzzled against her chin.

"Guess what! Guess what!" he chirped, "I got to see Annabubble again today!"

"I know," Quetzal smiled, "However, the next time you want to go visit your friend Annabelle, you need to tell me first, ok? Because we didn't know where you were and that worried everyone."

"It did?" Spaz looked around and received a few nods and he frowned, "I sorry Quetzal."

"So you promise to ask next time, right?"

"Uh-huh," he nodded his little helm rapidly.

She giggled, "Good. Thank you."

"Welcome!"

There was a small pause as everyone cherished the reunion before Staticshroud continued, "Quetzal, as I'm sure you know, is the caretaker of our resident younglings; Spaz and Fidget. Flail is our resident Anthropologist and his sister Jadelock, whom you've also met, is our Receptionist. Glasspike here is in charge of our refinery, Sunstreaker and Spectral are our patrol units and primary warriors. And lastly here is Organum, my advisor and our resident mad scientist."

"It is a pleasure to meet you all," Optimus smiled and prepared to make some big speech.

It was at this time that Ironhide tuned out, not because he didn't want to hear, but rather because something else had caught his attention. His delicate sensors were picking up a distant noise that was steadily growing louder. He hesitated for a moment before he could finally hear it clearly enough to determine what it was.

"We've got company!" he announced, both his and Chromia's canons coming to life almost instantaneously.

Optimus' helm snapped in the direction of an advancing battalion of Decepticon drones, "Staticshroud, take your group to the Autobot base! We'll hold them off!"

Staticshroud turned to his Glitchlings, uncertainty plaguing his optics. They stared back, some in horror, others were looking slightly ill.

"Perhaps we should all go together," Organum suggested hesitantly.

"And lead them right into town? We aren't going to endanger the human population!" Chromia growled.

"Then we take them down right where we are," Sunstreaker growled, taking out a gun.

"You can't be serious," Sparkler gave him an incredulous look.

"I don't like this idea," Quetzal whined, clutching Spaz closer as the youngling stared up at her in confusion.

"Is there another fight going to happen?" he asked quietly.

"Something like that," Organum murmured gently, taking Fidget's hand, "Let's get inside you three."

"Volary, we should join them," Spectral muttered, already heading inside.

"Huh?"

The smaller mech turned to him sharply, "We may not wear their brand anymore, but our optics tell our whole story. And believe me, I have taken the sparks of enough deserters to know that if they don't kill us here, they'll do ten times worse if we let ourselves fall into their hands."

He nodded slowly and followed Spectral inside with one last glance over his shoulder. Icefog followed along with the mining crew, Jadelock and Canto. By now the sounds of the approaching drones was audible to everyone remaining in the parking lot, and the doors to the Glitchling base locked from the inside.

"Are we really going to go through with this?" Sniperkite frowned, looking up at Staticshroud.

"Oh please," Ironhide snorted, "They're just a bunch of drones, no real threat there."

Staticshroud and Sniperkite shared a glance before the forest green mech shook his helm, "He's right. They're just….drones. Our survival is more important right now."

"Yes…sir…"

"Incoming!" Sideswipe yelled as the first of the vaulted into their midst and was just as swiftly sliced in two by the silver mech.

Chaos was the only word that could be used to describe the scene that followed.

The drone's numbers were far greater than they had maybe been expecting, but so far the combined Autobots and Glitchlings were successfully holding them off, and according to Optimus, more Autobots were on their way. However, that didn't mean that things were going smoothly.

"You did that on purpose!" Sunstreaker shouted bitterly after his twin's swords came mere centimeters from beheading him.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Sideswipe sneered back, "Run away again like the coward that you are?"

"Don't call me that!"

"Coward!"

"You know why I left now! Let it go!"

"Make me!"

"And you're still the immature, selfish slagger I remember," the yellow mech added more under his breath.

"_I'm _selfish? _You're _the one that decided to hide your face because you had some minor defect!"

"It's _not _a _minor _defect! It's a life-changing anomaly and I have to live with it!"

"Oh _get over yourself_!"

"That's it!" Sunstreaker fired three shots into a drone that had been trying to sneak up on him, "We settle this now!"

"I was hoping you'd say that," Sideswipe smirked, sheathing his blades back into his arms.

They stared each other down for an eternal moment before lunging at each other and going into an all-out brawl. Their shouting become almost impossible to discern and both were covered in dents and scratches within minutes. A few of the others glanced their way and one or two even moved as though to stop them.

"Let them be," Optimus commanded loudly, "They need to sort this out, and if this is how they want to do it, then so be it."

Wheeljack stepped back to avoid a shot aimed at his face and heard a sickening crunch and squeak of pain. He quickly moved his foot and spun around to see Illusion curled awkwardly on the ground, her left leg almost completely crushed.

"I'm sorry, so very very sorry," he gasped, carefully bending down and collecting her in his hands, "Is it bad?"

She winced but managed to shake her head, "It's mostly just my armor and a few wires. My energon lines are mostly undamaged. No need to alert the medics just yet."

He nodded shakily and looked around, "Ok then, um…h-here. I can monitor you this way."

He opened a small compartment in his chassis and emptied out some field-study materials. Illusion gave him a small thankful smile and allowed him to help her slide inside. She had to curl into a bit of a fetal position, but otherwise it was the perfect size.

"Just hang in there ok," Wheeljack murmured, his voice vibrating the walls of her container as he closed the opening, "Let me know the instant you feel something's wrong, and if need be I can repair you myself."

"Wheeljack was it?" she received a small buzz of confirmation, "Thank you."

Meanwhile on the other side of the battlefield Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were growing progressively more violent towards each other to the point it was beginning to threaten those around them. It was reaching the point where Optimus was beginning to question his judgment on not stopping this earlier. And if that wasn't bad enough, they were nearing the area that had unofficially been marked off as Ivoryspur's combat zone. And if they so much as nicked the already battle-activated black femme, they would have much bigger problems on their hands than each other.

And apparently Staticshroud was thinking the same thing, "Sparkler, Sniperkite! Get them out of there!"

Sniperkite merely nodded but Sparkler visibly winced and followed after a moment's hesitation. They surveyed the scene a moment before turning to each other.

"We should probably get them away from her first," Sniperkite began steadily, "Neither of us is strong enough to hold any of them back, but maybe we can at least get some sense into them. You have your Resetter, right?"

"Always," she sighed, taking it from her subspace, "Which one do you want to aim for."

"Whichever gives us the first opportunity."

They approached the battling twins carefully and prepared to jump in when something went terribly wrong. An unnoticed drone fired in their direction, bursting through Sniperkite's lower back. He yowled in agony, collapsing to the ground and as Sparkler turned in alarm, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's brawl came too close and a poorly aimed fist collided with the side of her helm, sending her sprawling out on the ground next to the dark-colored mech. The same drone continued firing, and managed to break the twins apart just enough for them to come to their right minds.

"I-I-I can't feel my-my legs…." Sniperkite gasped painfully.

"Huh?" Sparkler looked at him dizzily as she attempted to process what he had said. After a moment her head twisted awkwardly to the side and her optics brightened considerably, more so than was normal even in her glitched state. She immediately got up and began work on Sniperkite's injury as the twins shared a look, their anger finally beginning to ware off now that they had had the opportunity to vent it.

Sideswipe opened his mouth to speak when the deafening boom of a jet shook the air. They looked up just in time to see missiles rain down on the Glitchling base.

"Aw slag, that can _not _be good," Sideswipe muttered as the entire battlefield froze save for the single jet that now lowered itself into the hole.

"Get inside, NOW!" Optimus bellowed, slicing through the doors with his energon blades. Ironhide and Staticshroud followed close behind as the others continued to deal with the dwindling number of drones.

They didn't have to go far before they found Starscream, firing several shots at the unarmed Glitchlings on the other side of the inventory room. The seeker barely turned to view the newcomers and their charged weapons before he simply kicked on his thrusters again and left. Ironhide cursed while Staticshroud went straight to the side of his wounded and Optimus called for Ratchet.

Spectral, Volary and Sapsucker were both in a bad way, as they had been using themselves as living shields to protect the others. Therefore no one else was really wounded, though Quetzal had broken down in a violent fit of sobs as Staticshroud utilized what little first aid he knew.

"It's alright, Quetzal, you're safe now," Optimus tried his best to soothe the distraught femme.

"No it's _not_!" her systems wheezed and her joints contorted around her frame, "He took Spaz! Primus he _took Spaz_!"

* * *

Frog: I can't write fight scenes. Cliffy-hangers on the other hand ;)

PLEASE DON'T HIT ME! SPAZ WILL BE OK!...I think...


	11. Chapter 11: Aftershocks

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers, just the plot and most of the OCs, but a couple belong to my sisters.

Frog: Not much to say tonight. Another longer chapter with lots of stuffers going on. I almost made the Autobots turn bad for a moment in here, but I managed to avoid it XD

* * *

Spaz wasn't quite sure where he was at the moment, just that he was getting hungry and more than a little sleepy. It was strangely quiet and he felt….weightless? Was that the word he was looking for? He couldn't be sure. Maybe….floaty?

He didn't have much longer to ponder which adjective he should be using as suddenly the sound kicked back on as whatever/whoever was carrying him entered some form of atmosphere and Spaz could now clearly hear the sound of jet engines. Though this was the first time he had heard them so close. They were loud, and he wasn't sure he liked it.

The sounds grew louder and louder until finally they stopped all at once, their echoes fading off to somewhere beyond his containment. Spaz flickered his optics in confusion. He thought he heard voices, but they sounded so far away. With a small huff, he sat back, curling himself into a small ball. He hoped that whoever owned those voices would come and find him soon, and then take him back home. He couldn't be sure, but Spaz was fairly certain it was probably well past his recharge time, and Icefog always got real angry when he and Fidget stayed up too late.

Suddenly his containment seemed to fold into nothing around him, catching the youngling off guard and sending him tumbling into the local atmosphere. He squeaked as something caught him roughly by the leg and shoved the drone that had been holding him back out of the way. Spaz buzzed in frustration when no one immediately chastised the stranger for handling him the wrong way, and was tired enough that he might just start crying if they didn't correct the situation soon.

"You brought a sparkling…." a strange, deeper sounding voice mused dully from somewhere just beyond his view. Spaz craned his neck around as far as he was able to see a very large, silver mech with pointy armor staring at him. Wait….did he just call him a sparkling?

"I no sparkling!" he huffed defensively, "I'm getting to be a big bot!"

The gianormic stranger just twisted his faceplates in disgust, though this time his gaze was directed more towards whatever was currently holding the offended youngling. Spaz decided that this should also be of interest to him, because whatever it was, it was holding him all wrong. What he saw was another really big stranger who, in Spaz's naïve, human-culture-influenced processor, looked like he was a little overweight. He was a dull brown color with several swirling dark lines over his frame. He vaguely recognized this stranger as the one that had first taken him away from home while he had been chasing dust specks inside the base.

Quetzal had screamed very loudly when he did that.

Spaz did not like it when bots scared Quetzal.

With an agitated huff, he kicked at the offenders claws with his free leg (but was still too uncoordinated to actually hit). However, for the moment, his efforts were ignored.

"I could not capture a larger one, milord," the tan mech bowed, "They have an obnoxious habit of huddling together in groups. Easy to shoot, but not so simple to abduct."

"It's not even a Decepticon!" the silver mech bellowed. Spaz flinched. Hadn't this guy ever heard of an indoor voice? Icefog would be very unhappy.

"Y-yes, Lord Megatron. But….he could be of use to us…"

The Megatron-person snorted, "Oh of course, bringing back a measly youngling will pardon _all _your past failures. You couldn't even manage to kill a single deserter, could you Starscream?"

"On the contrary, milord, one of the deserters is no more. He fell to pieces under fire and will not live past his injuries."

The silver mech merely snorted, again looking at the now thoroughly exhausted youngling as he gave up trying to strike at Starscream's hand, "Take it to the lab. He's obviously old enough to have a processor of his own so if he's going to be any good in the future, we will have to take care of that."

"Of course, milord," Starscream bowed again, and left the chamber with Spaz still dangling from his claws. The youngling, however, did not struggle. He was too tired to care right now. But he figured they were taking him home now, and he'd wake up in Quetzal's arms, snuggled up to his favorite pillow.

* * *

"It's _really _not as bad as it looks," Volary bit back a chuckle when the Autobot medic had nearly fritzed out at seeing him missing half his limbs and still being completely conscious, "It's almost a perk to having easily detachable parts. I don't loose any energon through them once they're off."

Ratchet just stared at the downed mech in bewilderment as Organum knelt behind him, keeping the younger mech upright. Staticshroud would have chuckled if there hadn't been other injured on his team, and gently roused the medic from his stupor.

"If you don't mind, since Sparkler hasn't shown up yet…" he coughed, gesturing to Spectral who was probably the worst injured out of the small group that had fled inside only to have Starscream find them.

"Of course," he waved his hand dismissively, but also casting a glare in Volary's direction, "Don't try to fix those until someone looks at it! I don't care what your Primus-forsaking glitch is, just stay put until you receive proper medical attention."

"Yes sir," Volary answered evenly.

"Is everything calmed down outside?" Optimus questioned as Chromia joined them, "I haven't heard any more fighting."

She nodded slowly, "The last of the drones have been taken care of, and only with minimal injuries on our side," she glanced at the few Glitchlings assembled inside, and turned to Staticshroud, "I can see the same can't be said for you."

"All of us are alive…for the moment," the forest-green mech lowered his helm and rubbing his face plates, "Primus Spaz….."

"What the slag happened!" Ivoryspur half shrieked, half roared as she stormed into the room, "Mother—"

"It's just a scratch darling," Organum called gently as she watched her daughter's pale optics flicker to a small wound on her mother's arm, "Volary's the one you should be worried about. The brave dear made certain nothing worse happened to me in your absence."

"I'm fine!" the former Decepticon very nearly whined up at the glowing femme as Ivoryspur came to kneel by his side. Honestly, Ivoryspur alone knew how to make him feel like a youngling sometimes with how often she chastised him, but throw in her mother creator and he might as well have been sparked yesterday.

"Slag it, Volary…" she muttered, picking up one of his detached limbs and investigating the damage more closely, "You just can't take care of yourself, can you…"

He chuckled nervously, "The same could be said for a lot of us..."

She glowered at him and he raised his remaining arm up defensively, "I wasn't talking about you specifically!"

Ivoryspur rolled her optics, but said nothing as she instead settled behind him to help the mech sit up against the wall. He muttered his thanks, and picked up his discarded arm with a dull expression. Ivoryspur watched him silently a moment, opening her mouth to speak, but quickly changing her mind and directing her attention to where the remaining Autobots and Glitchlings were making their way into the room.

Wheeljack took one look at the damaged bots and, deciding they didn't need his assistance, set to work on patching up Illusion's leg. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe pointedly entered the complex separately, followed shortly by Sparkler and Sniperkite.

"We have a problem," the yellow mech announced, crossing his arms and glancing back over his shoulder at the other two Glitchlings. Sniperkite looked fine, save for a slight limp, but Sparkler's optics were still glowing unnaturally bright and there was an odd kink in her neck.

"Problem as in…" Staticshroud prompted with a deep frown.

"She won't snap out of it," Sniperkite provided, waving a hand in front of the femme medic's faceplates and receiving no reaction.

"Let me see," Organum sighed, almost wearily, as she promptly came to stand at the smaller femme's side. Sparkler seemed to notice her, or at least the injury on her arm and Organum allowed her to repair it as she looked over the younger's face plates. She couldn't see anything wrong other than the obvious, but she could hear a definite and strange buzzing coming from her helm. She gasped in alarm and realization, yanking the orange femme around and tugged a cable out of her neck. Sparkler's systems almost seemed to scream in surprise though her vocalizer remained silent before her entire body fell limply to the ground.

"What was that for?" Sniperkite yelled, nearly in a panic as he fell to his knees by the medic's side. Organum stared down at them, matching his look of horror.

"Sniperkite, I need you to show me exactly what happened," she ordered. The younger mech looked confused, but obeyed, attaching a small wire from his upper arm to her palm in order to pass the data file along to her.

"Patients are stabilized for the moment, but I have inadequate supplies to repair them fully," Ratchet announced from the other side of the room, rising to his feet as he yanked his hand off Sapsucker's magnetized armor. The yellow and black mech gave him a sheepish grin, despite the medic's obvious irritation.

"We have a med-bay," Volary tried to offer, but Optimus shook his helm.

"I don't think they were expecting us Autobots to be here, they will likely return with stronger fighters," he sighed, "I'm sorry Staticshroud, but it's time for your people to leave now before they are put into any greater danger."

The Glitchling leader froze, his optics scanning over his group with uncertainty. Virtually all of them that had heard the order were radiating with displeasure at the very idea of being shipped off to the main Autobot base, but at the same time they understood they didn't really have a choice. He sighed heavily, again rubbing at his helm in exhaustion and stress. He wanted to say no, to say that they needed to remain here until he was sure they were all going to be alright before forcing such a stressful change on all of them, but Optimus was right. They were no longer safe here.

"I have more Autobots on the way to make sure the transfer goes smoothly. I understand not all of your bots will be able to make the journey by means of their own but I will make certain they are accounted for," Optimus reassured as best he could.

"I'm afraid that's not the problem…"

There was an awkward pause as the two leaders tried to decide what they should say, and their followers stared each other down. This was just going to be a disaster, Staticshroud knew it. It would be hard enough for the Glitchlings to get along with the Autobots, no matter how much faith Optimus had in his team, but throw in a bunch of gun-toting humans and _their _leaders and he was beginning to develop some serious doubts.

"What about Spaz?" Fidget asked quietly from where he was still hiding partly behind Quetzal. The spring-green femme turned to wrap a reassuring arm around his small shoulders, though she refused to look him in the optic for fear of breaking down again.

Optimus shut down his own optics, "We will do what we can to have him returned to you. I will let you know the moment we have a plan."

"Well you had better come up with one soon!" Icefog huffed bitterly, "We're running out of time!"

"I highly doubt the Decepticons will have reason to harm your youngling," Optimus reasoned as best he was able. Several of the Glitchlings looked around in uncertainty, particularly at Spectral who was glowering disdainfully at the Autobot leader.

"You have no idea…"

Optimus flickered his optics and frowned, "I—"

"That's enough. There's nothing we can do about it for the time being," Staticshroud warned, also looking at the injured ex-Decepticon. Spectral inclined his helm in acknowledgment, but still appeared cynical.

"What will our accommodations be?" Ivoryspur questioned next, narrowing her optics slightly. By now, Optimus decided that no matter what he said, this group wasn't going to like him simply because he was making them move, regardless of the fact that it was for their own good.

"The rec. room is being reorganized into a temporary shelter for you. It is a protected spot and only a short distance away from the med-bay. I have assigned a small group of Autobots to guard you when we arrive."

"Yep, definitely sounds like prison," Sunstreaker muttered helpfully.

* * *

The journey to the Autobot base outside of Tranquility progressed without incident. In fact, it was almost uncomfortably quiet. The few humans they passed didn't seem to find the seemingly endless train of vehicles (minus Quetzal who couldn't drive well enough and Ivoryspur who was in chopper form carrying her high above, and then the injured were attached to trailers and whatnot and being towed along) to be terribly odd, well except for one little boy who thought it was a parade. The Glitchlings in particular were quiet, almost to the point of giving the Autobots the cold shoulder.

The silence continued even after they entered the Autobot base and returned to their bipedal forms. There were three cargo planes already prepared for their departure, and several of the Glitchlings exchanged worried glances. Once they got on board and those planes took off, there would be no going back for who knows how long.

"My mate Elita-1 will be receiving you upon your arrival," Optimus explained, "There simply isn't enough room for all of us to go with you."

"I, however, will be," Ratchet added, "Seeing as your medic is…incapacitated, some of you will still be in need of medical care when we arrive. And…" he looked over at Optimus, "Prime believes you would feel more comfortable with someone more familiar close by."

"We have each other, thank you," Sniperkite muttered darkly.

"Sniperkite, please," Staticshroud shook his helm in exasperation, "We appreciate your consideration, but…."

"I know, I don't expect it to be worth much," the Autobot CMO finished dryly, "Shall we?"

"One moment," Optimus mused, detaching from his trailer and shifting back to his robot form. The trailer was opened to reveal a very disgruntled and somewhat embarrassed looking Volary.

"Oh don't worry Volary. It's _good_ that you can be disassembled for easy transport and storage!" Organum giggled. The former Decepticon 'hmphed' and glared at the sky as his limbs were removed from Optimus' trailer, three of them to be reattached but the fourth (according to Ratchet) was still to damaged to risk. And so he would be going without a leg until they reached Diego Garcia. Something which Volary wasn't exactly pleased with because that meant someone (Ivoryspur) would practically have to carry him to and from the plane. Not exactly the best first impression for one of the Glitchling officers to make, and he certainly didn't want to irritate Ivory any more than he knew she was already getting.

Speaking of which, she was just touching down now, Quetzal in tow. The smaller femme stumbled out of the mesh netting that had been holding her up, looking dizzier than usual as she swayed awkwardly on the tarmac. Staticshroud was quickly at her side, making sure she didn't fall and hurt herself.

"Quetzal!" Fidget called, jumping out from the interior of Flail's alt. mode and racing towards her, "Can I ride with you?"

Quetzal smiled at him, but still looked somber as he clung to her leg, gazing up at her with wide optics, so much older than his vorns should allow. He was worried about her. He didn't want her to start bawling on the way over there, and she knew it. She couldn't help but feel…grateful and yet terribly guilty at the same time.

"Of course. I don't think they'll mind," she murmured, stroking the top of his helm.

He nodded with the tiniest of grins as they turned to watch Ratchet oversee the loading of the injured into the first cargo plane. Even with three aircraft to send them in, it was going to be something of a tight fit and the weight in each one needed to be close to the same to ensure they all made the trip.

"Uhhh….I don't think I can make it…" Glasspike muttered anxiously, shifting uncomfortably as he gazed at the human-built flying contraptions.

"Why not?" Ironhide frowned at him. The considerably smaller mech winced and swiveled to face him.

"I don't think it would be…safe…"

"He's probably right," Organum added worriedly before any of the Autobots could press (and therefore intimidate) him further, "Glasspike's anomaly is an unusually high core body temperature. Whether or not these aircraft can handle such a burden in their hulls should really be experimented with another time."

"We can't just leave him!" Pinprick shook his helm rapidly.

"You don't have a choice!" the shy mech in question couldn't help the way his vocalizer refused to process the words clearly.

"I'll stay with 'em," Sapsucker offered, raising his hand as he sat up from his make-shift gurney, "It probably isn't the best idea for me to get on board one of those things either."

"No!" Fidget practically screamed before trying to meld his face plates into Quetzal's leg, muffling his words, "We can't split up! We can't!"

"We don't have to…" Ivoryspur grumbled, sending Optimus a glare.

"We can't possibly accommodate and protect _all _of you at this base. A handful of you may stay so that you won't be alone, but…."

Several of the Glitchlings turned helplessly to their leader who looked just as at a loss as the rest of them. He lowered his helm and shut down his optics as his frame shuttered and teetered on the edge of another episode.

"If one of us must stay here," his vocalizer was not agreeing with him right now, but he had to force the words out just the same as refocused his gaze on Optimus, "Then we're _all _staying here. I am not going to leave a single one of my bots behind."

"I understand your sentiment, but I'm afraid you have no other choice," the Autobot leader frowned.

"Says who," Staticshroud finally managed to meet the Prime's gaze evenly, though he doubted he'd be able to keep this up much longer.

"It simply isn't possible for all of you to remain here. We don't have the numbers and we don't have the room," Optimus tried to reason, "Our agreement was for your people to travel to Diego Garcia. I can make a few exceptions due to their…abnormalities, but that's it."

"Well then we're going to need a new plan."

"I've already told you, there isn't another option," Optimus' systems rumbled a warning and Staticshroud lost some of his courage.

"Fine, I'll make one myself," he muttered. Behind him Ironhide growled and onlined his canons, causing several of the Glitchlings to press together in a panic.

"What are you gonna do, _force _us to board the planes?" Sunstreaker hissed, unsheathing his own gun.

"If it comes to that," the imposing weapon's specialist brought the canons fully to life.

"Odd, I thought you said you were supposed to be protecting us," Ivoryspur commented dryly.

"I did and I intend to," Optimus Prime cast a glare at the black mech, "Autobots, we are not to threaten the Glitchlings in any way," he then added over their com. _'We aren't going to earn their trust by flashing weaponry in their direction.'_

_'Then what do you propose we do, Prime?' _Ironhide huffed, but was in the process of obeying just the same, _'They aren't just endangering themselves stalling here, they're putting us and the humans here in danger as well. They _have _to go!"_

_'And they will, but we aren't going to pressure them with the threat of violence.'_

Prowl, who had been standing silent off to the side since the group had arrived, tilted his helm slightly to the side, _'They lost the youngling, correct?'_

_'Yes, and it has them all quite distressed,' _Optimus murmured a bit sorrowfully.

_'Perhaps we can offer them a deal then. If they travel to Diego Garcia we will give them access to our communications terminal.'_

_'But it's not done yet,' _Chromia gave him a suspicious look, _'And even if it was, what good would it do them?'_

_'It's near enough to completion that they will at least be able to contact Megatron.'_

The link fell silent at that point and a few of the Autobots looked up at him in alarm. Optimus' optics, however, had softened minutely in understanding. And when the link was suddenly overflowing with accusations that it was a horrible idea, he quickly silenced them.

He gave a meaningful glare to each of the Autobots present before they could object further, _'Remember what we would have done to find Annabelle, and that these bots are the ones that saved her. If nothing else we can do this for them in gratitude.'_

That successfully shut the rest of them up as Optimus once again turned to the Glitchling leader who was beginning to look a little unstable, "We have a proposition," he announced and Staticshroud flickered his optics in acknowledgment, "We are constructing a small communications terminal at Diego Garcia. If you're willing to go, then we will permit you to utilize it's abilities to negotiate the return of your youngling."

The response was immediate as virtually every Glitchling looked in his direction with varying degrees of surprise. As that revelation sunk in, their emotions became clearly written on their faceplates.

"And what if you don't agree to the terms of any deal we make with them?" Organum asked slowly.

"What you must do to rescue Spaz is your own business. So long as it does not put the Autobot cause or the human race directly in harms way we will not interfere. Megatron knows this and is unlikely to ask for anything of that nature."

"If you say so…" the noblefemme muttered, still looking skeptical.

"H-how many of us can stay here," Volary asked next, reluctance evident in his voice.

Optimus turned to Prowl who was able to answer immediately, "Four is the most I think this base can handle at this time. But we will begin work on transporting them to Diego Garcia as well as soon as we are able."

"I see…" Staticshroud lowered his helm, whether in contemplation or from a rapidly encroaching episode was unknown, "So far we have Glasspike and Sapsucker. Are there any other volunteers?"

Archveil, to the surprise of some, stepped forward, "Sapsucker is my responsibility, I will stay behind and keep them both in check."

"And I will ensure that they are safe from whatever necessary," Braimond added, inclining his helm. Staticshroud nodded at them both.

"Please let us know if anything happens."

"We will," the supposedly soulless mech and Staticsroud's oldest friend agreed.

"So…" Optimus ventured carefully, "Are you ready to leave then?"

Staticshroud sighed heavily, looking around at his assembled Glitchlings. They still didn't want to go, and they still didn't want to leave any of the number behind, but….this might be their only chance to get Spaz back. And even those who didn't like the youngling very much knew it had to be done.

Then very slowly he turned back to the Autobot leader and nodded.

* * *

"So…" Pinprick looked around awkwardly at those gathered in his plane, "What's wrong with Sparkler again?"

Organum gave a thoughtful hum, carefully shifting her position, "You've heard of her sister, haven't you?"

"Yeah."

"In passing," Sniperkite added from next to the noblefemme.

"Well," she sighed heavily, "It would appear that your remark, Sniperkite, after you were injured is more or less word for word one of the last things to have come out of her sister's vocalizer….It is my assumption that she heard that as her medical programming was coming online and….something glitched…"

"So essentially Sparkler's medical programming mislabeled _you _as her sister," Sunstreaker snorted with a smirk.

"As I recall, _you're _the one that hit her," the darker mech glowered back.

"Yeah, but no one said that had anything to do with it. And that was an accident, she should have known better than to get that close."

"Wait….so her glitch…well glitched?" Pinprick frowned. Organum merely nodded.

"I don't know for certain, but yes, that appears to be the problem," she shook her helm wearily, "And from what I could tell, it was beginning to more or less _'do battle' _with the rest of her processor for control. I had to shut her off before she damaged herself."

There was silence a moment longer, before Pinprick again hesitantly, "W-will she be o-ok?"

"We're just going to have to wait and see."

* * *

Frog: I still got pretty much nothing to say, so please review and let me know what you think! Have a wonderful week everyone and thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12: We Have to Start Somewhere

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers, just the plot and most of the OCs.

Frog: Yay, finally got this up! Today you will be learning why the drones made the Glitchlings so nervous as well as what the Decepticons probably have planned for poor Spazzy :(

* * *

**Chapter 12: We Have to Start Somewhere**

The three cargo planes touched down at Diego Garcia without incident, and the resident Autobots were on the tarmac to receive them. At first none of the Glitchlings moved, even after the planes opened completely. It was painfully awkward, despite the fact that the Autobots present were _trying _to look friendly and the Glitchlings weren't buying it at all.

Not that Ratchet was ever one to care.

"Alright, get these patients to the med-bay! And I mean now!" he barked, practically storming off the plane. Staticshroud shifted uncomfortably behind him before going about helping Spectral to limp towards the base. He had had the distinct pleasure of describing, in detail, every glitch his team had so that the Autobot medic could keep them for reference if he had to repair any of them in the near future. It had been a _tad_ stressful for both of them, and now Ratchet was actually forcing himself to at least appear to be in a better mood than he actually was. And admittedly, the Glitchling leader wasn't exactly feeling very gracious either.

The Glitchling leader looked obligingly at his group as they huddled in their transports. Slowly they began to filter out onto the tarmac, one and two at a time, optics laced with distrust and anxiety as they stared at the small crowd.

"Staticshroud?" a kind female voice ventured, causing the forest green mech to turn around to see a light pink femme standing confidently at the head of the Autobots. He nodded slowly and she offered a reassuring smile, "I am Elita-One. How was your flight?"

"As best as could have been hoped," he muttered distractedly.

The femme commander nodded in sympathetically, "Optimus told me everything. You have nothing to worry about, your people will be safe here."

Staticshroud could honestly say that he was getting tired of being told that.

"You'd like to think that wouldn't you," he grumbled as he walked off, almost too fast for Spectral to keep up.

Elita flickered her optics after him in surprise as a small frown formed on her features. But while she may have felt a little offended at his comment, she actually had to admit….he was probably right. A number of Autobots weren't exactly thrilled to have the Glitchlings here either. Already four different bots had to explain to Flareup that glitches were _not _contagious, rumors had spread like wildfire concerning the type of damage these "dysfunctional" bots were likely to cause, and to top it all off, a handful of Autobots had to be shut in the brig for fear they would attack any Glitchling that tried to use the com. center. No, this was not shaping up to be a good incident at all, but what else could they do?

Presently, Elita was brought out of her musings by some bickering in the last unloaded plane. She quirked an optic ridge as a small group of Glitchlings stood on the ramp, apparently trying to convince whoever was still inside to come out. After debating it a moment, she decided to go over and see if there was anything she could do to help.

As she came up, she heard one of the femme's sigh and shift her stance so that she could fix a disapproving look at the mech inside, "Sunstreaker, I'm giving you until the count of three," she held up a digit, "One…"

The yellow mech inside narrowed his optics at her, "I told you I'm _not _going out there!"

"Two…"

Elita wasn't sure if she should feel amused or sympathetic towards Sunstreaker's plight. Optimus had told her what he could, and to be honest she was quite surprised to learn that someone that had actually served with the Prime himself was among the neutrals. And while she had never known Sunstreaker personally, she had heard enough about him to have an idea of what was running through his processor right now.

He had served with more bots than just Optimus, and a number of them were waiting right outside. It was only recently that anyone had learned he was glitched, and of all the rumors that had been circulating the last few hours, that was one of the most common. So it was only natural that Sunstreaker did _not _want to face his former comrades while he was in any state they may considered "debilitating".

"Threeeeeeeee….." the femme drew out the last number into a delightful trill.

Sunstreaker rolled his optics, "And now what are you going to do? Call you daughter out here?"

"Of course not! She's very busy right now," the femme grinned as she approached him, "You don't look too heavy. I'll just drag you out myself!"

"What?" Sunstreaker backed away with a low growl.

At this moment, the yellow mech had a choice. He could either leave the plane with what little dignity he had left, or have this lunatic "escort" him. It wasn't a decision he liked, but the proper choice was obvious. And so with the brief sound of a transformation and a rather impressive roar from his engine, Sunstreaker sped past them all and made a mad dash for the designated hangar, leaving the madly cackling femme behind.

"They're so cute at that age," she beamed, turning to Elita.

The pink femme froze.

"O-Organum?"

The former noble flickered her optics briefly as she, too, recognized who was standing next to her before her face split into another blinding smile, "Why Elita! Fancy meeting you here!"

"Indeed…"

The few Glitchlings that remained nearby flickered their optics curiously. But before anyone could ask, Organum politely excused herself and ushered them away towards the Autobot base. Elita stared after them a moment in surprise and perhaps a hint of uncertainty before following.

The rec. room within had been feverishly reorganized into a temporary living quarters. There were only two entrances to the room, making it easy to keep the Glitchlings safe (as well as keep an optic on them). All the areas in the room that had been primarily reserved for human use had been removed except for a couple observation decks around the perimeter. The Cybertronian sized furniture was rearranged and a large tarp hanging from the ceiling marked off a small area with a couple berths, allowing the Glitchlings to recharge in shifts as they needed it. First aid supplies were laying out on one of the counter-tops next to a fresh supply of energon rations, but most of the wall monitors were missing.

Upon her arrival, the femme commander found most of the Glitchlings looking around uncomfortably, some scanning the walls and corners for security cameras (which had all been removed, she was quite sure, for their privacy, but she didn't blame them for checking), others looked a little ill, and she also noted that some were missing, but she assumed they were probably helping Ratchet with their injured.

"So now what? So now what? So now what? So now wha—"

Elita-One turned her helm in alarm at the resounding _"clang" _that abruptly ended the almost equally surprising waterfall of repeated words. She stared as the mech, Sniperkite, casually lowered his hand from behind Deathspeak's helm.

She processed a moment, reminding herself that they could not be expected to behave like most bots she had dealt with in the past. The Autobot army had its share of quirky personalities, but there was definitely something different this time around, even though she didn't really want to admit it.

"For the moment," she began gently, offering them a small smile, "you all should rest. Today has been long and a great deal has happened. If you need anything at all, we have left some external com. devices that you can use to contact me at any time."

"And what about the communications terminal?' Organum questioned, sounding a tad pensive.

"It's still in preparation, but I will alert you personally the moment it's ready."

"Well for the youngling's sake if nothing else, I pray that's soon," the noblefemme sighed.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Elita reasoned.

"You know what, just stop!" Ivoryspur all but shouted, causing the already agitated group to jump and a few to draw their weapons.

"Excuse me?" the Autobot femme commander frowned. Certainly she hadn't been expecting the Glitchlings to take orders from her or anything ridiculous like that, but she had at least expected them to give her the proper respect.

She didn't receive an explanation right away, however, as the black femme scanned the room, "Where's Spectral."

"Staticshroud took him to the med-bay," Pinprick pointed nervously to the back door.

"Is everything alright in here?" two more Autobots, Hound and Trailbreaker peered into the room.

"You tell me," Ivoryspur muttered, stalking out towards the med-bay, never mind that she didn't know how to get there. The remaining Glitchlings shifted awkwardly, not a one of them daring to look the bemused Autobots in the optic. After a moment Quetzal collapsed to her knees with a distressed whine. Organum and Icefog were promptly at her side, guiding the younger femme back into the recharge area, followed closely by a confused and worried Fidget.

"What are they talking about?" they barely heard him say from the other side of the room. Icefog shushed him gently before ushering him fully into the secluded recharge area. Barely a minute later, Ivoryspur returned with Spectral cursing loudly from where he was flung over her shoulder. Staticshroud was right on her heels, looking slightly irritated at her behavior but making no move to stop it.

"Here," she deposited him none-to-gently on the couch nearest Elita-One, "Please explain to _them _what your duty among the Decepticons was regarding younglings."

His optics widened marginally as he rose unsteadily to his feet. He mulled it over a little before his gaze returned to its default, rather dull setting as he addressed the few gathered Autobots, "Are you aware of the origins of Ivoryspur's glitch?"

Elita-One shook her helm briefly, "I have been informed what it is, not where it came from. I don't believe you've shared that information with us yet."

"Very well, then allow me to explain. Now while I obviously was not there, I can tell you everything that she and her mother have shared with us. Ivoryspur was about Fidget's age at the time that her mech creator attempted to load a lower-level Decepticon battle program into her young processor. He was stopped of course, and as such she has some…complications with what files remain, but that's beside the point."

As he spoke, the femme in question remained completely stoic, even as Hound looked her way in alarm. He appeared to be about ready to ask, but Elita cut him off.

"While that is all very interesting, I fail to see what that has to do with your youngling now," she snipped, crossing her arms.

"Of course," he inclined his helm, "You see, _had _the complete program been loaded, it was large enough that most if not all her other files and functions would have been lost, essentially resulting in a very small drone."

At this point some of the Glitchlings began to shift uncomfortably, and a few went to join the femmes in the recharge area as Spectral's visage darkened, "Apparently she was one of the lucky ones. The first few were all mistakes, and it wasn't until several orns later that they realized they could use this as a tactic."

Elita-One froze, a sense of unease washing over her spark as the former Decepticon went on almost as though he were discussing the weather, "The thing is that someone figured out that when a Decepticon raids an area that has a lot of Autobot younglings and sparklings it's a terrible waste of functioning sparks. Sparklings can easily be raised in the Decepticon way, but after they begin forming coherent sentences, that becomes considerably more difficult. And so any youngling that fits between that time and about Fidget's age when their processor is still in an easy to program state, they are given a fairly decent level of battle code that overwhelms that same, weak processor and turns them into a mindless servant to the cause."

The femme commander felt her systems hitch and the room suddenly felt much colder though her temperature gauges indicated no change. Spectral lowered his optics and relaxed his shoulders, "I am not proud of it, but I performed the procedure more times than I think you would like to know. Without the need for cognitive or emotional development, the youngling can be transferred to a larger frame in a matter of a vorn or so, easily reaching their full capacity within five."

Had Elita-One been a weaker femme, she probably would have reacted to the news much the same as Quetzal did just minutes before. All this time, those seemingly pathetic drones that she had always been able to deactivate with hardly even a thought may have been… She couldn't even bare to think it.

"There is a chance that Spaz will be fine," a new voice muttered, as Icefog wandered towards them, "After Spectral told us tha' one we made a point on safeguarding our younglings from something like that."

"You did?" Several of the Glitchlings asked at once.

The powder blue femme's voice dropped about three octaves, and continued to go lower as she spoke, "Only myself and Organum have known anything about it. It's somethin' of a virus I s'pose, automatically deletes any program you try to pump into them. But before any of you can get all excited, it _does _have its limits. It's all a matter of whether 'er not those Pit-spawn are sparkless enough to try and push it."

* * *

Meanwhile: cargo plane en route to Diego Garcia

Epps stared at the blue and red truck before him, jaw slightly slack as he tried to comprehend what the Autobot leader had just said. After a moment he blinked once, then twice and frowned.

"So you're saying…" he began slowly, glancing at Lennox, "that _I'm _going to be playing _babysitter_ to a bunch of giant alien robotic civilians?"

Optimus hummed in affirmation, "We believe it best that the Glitchlings have a human liaison."

He gave the truck a look as though it were crazy, "How does that work?"

"The Glitchlings are agitated enough with us as it is. I wouldn't be surprised if they would outright ignore an Autobot liaison out of spite. Someone must teach them proper behavior around base lest anyone get hurt."

Lennox grinned, "They'll also find you a _lot _less intimidating than say, Skids or Mudflap."

Epps gave his friend a dull look as Optimus continued, "Correct. If we are to coexist peacefully with these neutrals in the future we need them to trust not only us, but the human population of Diego Garcia as well. The less threatened they feel, the safer all of us will be."

The sergeant snorted sarcastically, "Thanks…"

Lennox shrugged, "Think of it this way, since you're going to be so busy helping the neutrals get adjusted, someone else will be assigned to do your paperwork for you!"

Epps perked up almost instantaneously, "Ok, I'm in!"

"I thought you might say that," Lennox smirked.

* * *

Frog: I think I'm going to add Epps as the second main character on the site since he's going to be showing up a lot in the near future XD Don't worry, I'm not going to be making another one of those "rules" fics (funny as they can be). I just need someone around to keep an eye on them and he seemed like the perfect choice!

And there will be some happy things next chapter too, and I promise this time it won't take me as long to update ;) In fact, it's already in progress!

Anyways, thank you very much for reading! And have a wonderful week! :D


	13. Chapter 13: Saving Graces

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers, just the plot and most of the OCs.

Frog: This chapter has a lot of dialogue and not much action, and I'm not sure how it works. It's mostly just putting through both the main and some side plots that are either in progress or will be soon. But not very many different people do any talking.

Oh and this is the chapter I mentioned awhile back in reference to romance. Actually...it isn't so much romantic as it is completely ridiculous. But I'm kind of cursed to always listen to my ideas no matter how stupid they may be. But at least it turned out a lot better than I thought it would!  
And while we're on the subject, I don't believe in robots (at least in the movie-verse) kissing. First of all, I don't know how that would even work with their odd faces and second it's completely unfair to the poor Decepticons that have mandibles instead. So I have them show affections in other ways.

But ENOUGH RAMBLING! Goodness sakes Frog! Just let them read already!

* * *

**Chapter 13: Saving Graces**

"Excuse me?" Staticshroud called nervously into the medbay.

"I assure you, there is little of importance since the last ten minutes," Ratchet muttered. The Glitchling leader shifted awkwardly as he looked over the tables where his injured were resting. Volary had been cleared to go back into the rec. room not long ago, allowing Staticshroud to return to the med-bay in good faith that nothing would go wrong if he was gone for more than a couple klicks. This left Spectral and Sparkler, the former appeared to be in recharge and the latter was still in stasis lock as Ratchet ran a comprehensive scan of her processors.

"I realize that," he began slowly, "I just have more time now and was wondering what updates you do have."

"Very well," the Autobot CMO sighed, "We'll start with that one."

He stepped around to Spectral, keeping his vocals fairly quiet, "I put him in a light stasis for the time being, as you suggested, and so far he hasn't stirred. You say he had a sparkmate at one time?"

The dark green mech nodded, "He's given us no reason to believe otherwise."

"Oh I believe you," Ratchet muttered, nodding at a large screen, "His spark certainly has evidence of scarring. What of his offspring?"

Staticshroud flickered his optics, "Ah…offspring?"

"Yes," Ratchet nodded, with a small frown followed by a thoughtful hum, "In fact, that's likely the only reason he's managed to stay online this long. It's rare for a bot to survive that kind of metaphysical damage unless their spark has something else to cling to."

The Glitchling leader could only stare at him, "Does he know about that?" he asked, pointing somewhere childishly at Spectral's still form.

"Well I would assume so. Sparklings don't just miraculously appear out of thin air you know," the medic commented dryly, "But I will make a point of asking him in a joor or so when his self-repair completes its cycle. As for your medic…"

They moved to the other table as Ratchet went on, "I had to switch her back on to diagnose the problem."

"And…." Staticshroud prodded as the medic brought up a set of images on the screen.

"Now I'm not expecting you to understand everything you see here," Ratchet began, absently tapping his digits on the counter, "But essentially, this is a map of the various signals her processors sent in the few moments I had her online."

He nodded slowly, clearly lost as to what he was supposed to be looking at as Ratchet brought up another image and then proceeded to explain it, "And just for comparisons sake, this is an image from a scan I ran over Spectral's processors. As you may be able to see….Sparkler's processors seem to have quite a conflict of interest…"

It was a little hard for Staticshroud to make out at first, but sure enough it was there. Spectral's thought processes went in multiple directions, but for the most part they were primarily focused toward whatever the task at hand was. Sparkler's, however, were going mostly in two opposing directions, right at each other.

"This here," Ratchet pointed at one side of the "battle", "Is her medical programming, and as you can see, when she's online it's trying to do battle with the rest of her functions and processes."

"Is it…winning?"

"Can't tell," Ratchet shrugged, "I didn't dare give it the chance though. Even from what little data I have collected here I can tell that it's already done some damage. Nothing to be alarmed about or anything, just a few files from her mem. Banks have been either deleted or corrupted, but I doubt it's enough for any great concern. I'm assuming it was something there that likely triggered this…episode."

Staticshroud stared down at Sparkler worriedly, "Can it be fixed?"

"Only if we remove the offending program."

The Glitchling leader, once again, could only stare at him. Sparkler would not like that idea, but if it was the only way…"

"Can it be replaced?"

"So long as her processors don't reject it."

"Why would it do that?"

"Typical medical programming is not so highly integrated into a bot's normal function, but this….glitch she developed is so entangled with the rest of her that simply removing the original program will not remove the glitch itself. If she does end up accepting a new medical program, it will have to be corrupted in order for it to work at all."

"Ah," Staticshroud sighed heavily, "And you're sure there's no other way?"

"If there was, I would already be in the course of fixing it."

"Right…"

"I can remove the program with very little difficulty, but I need your permission first."

"Oh?" Staticshroud looked disinterestedly around the room, almost feeling as though he was going to purge himself. Eventually he sighed in defeat and hung his helm, "Is there any chance it can wait, at least a little longer? I know it's not wise to leave her in a deep stasis for too long, but just in case there's any chance—"

"There's really not," Ratchet muttered.

"Well then I guess just leave her in stasis a while longer anyways. Once the rest of us have settled down some I think it will be easier for her to transition. Sparkler was more opposed to the idea of coming here than most of them, and if everyone else has calmed down to an extent then I think she'll have an easier time of it as well."

"Ah yes. The stubborn ones are always so much fun," the medic grumbled, "Very well, but I would recommend we get this over with come evening."

"Evening it is then," Staticshroud sighed again before quietly nodding his thanks and taking his leave.

He arrived at the rec. room to find it in about the same state he had left it. Well, save for the fact that Ivoryspur was pacing the room almost frantically. As the door closed behind him, the door across the room opened to reveal Elita-One once again.

"Can we use the terminal yet?" Pinprick almost immediately piped up.

The femme commander shook her helm wearily, "I'm afraid there have been some delays…."

Ivoryspur whirled around wildly with a glare, "You know, I'm really getting sick of all this! Could you be a little more vague please? It really helps!"

Staticshroud almost scolded her, but quickly thought better of it as he noted the frantic twitching of her claws. He shared a worried glance with Volary as Elita fixed a disapproving glare on the younger femme.

"I assure you, we are doing all we can," she shook her helm, "I suppose you have a right to know—"

"Oh, you suppose?" the black femme sneered.

Elita-One met the look evenly, "You're Organum's daughter, aren't you? I can see you certainly have her penchant for debate."

Said femme, who had been watching mildly from the sidelines perked up, "Is there a problem with that?"

"Of course not. It was merely an observation."

Organum frowned slightly and Ivoryspur twitched, but both remained quiet.

Meanwhile, Volary's curiosity was starting to get the better of him, and while he knew he really shouldn't ask, it left his vocalizer anyways, "Ah…do you two….know each other?"

Organum tilted her helm to the side and smiled at him, "We were acquainted on Cybertron. It happens a lot in politics actually."

Elita nodded, but was looking mostly at Organum as she spoke, "And Cybertron is nothing but a past life now. We are all starting anew, especially with you neutrals. I only hope that you all will share that sentiment."

"If we are truly given the chance then we'll return it," Staticshroud reminded, "Now as you were saying…"

Elita tucked her hands neatly behind her back, finding what her said to be uncomfortably ironic, "It is regretful but…I fear one of our Autobots may have sabotaged the project."

She let that sink in a moment, gauging their reactions. The news had upset her as well. Here they were trying to earn the Glitchlings trust, and someone, one of their own no less, had just forced them several steps backwards. It didn't help that she wasn't sure who was behind it. Blaster had been the mech working on the terminal, but had left the room to get a few more supplies. Upon his return, he immediately found that something was wrong. Currently, Red Alert was going over the hallway security feed, so she would have her answer within minutes and the perpetrator would be punished immediately.

She just hoped this incident didn't burn too many bridges, especially considering there hadn't been that many to begin with.

Ivoryspur groaned in agitation, clutching her large hands over her helm. Her claws flexed and her systems started buzzing loudly. The surrounding Glitchlings looked on in concern as the black femme shuttered and teetered on the edge of a breakdown/blind rage.

"Elita-One," Volary quickly stepped up to his close friend's side, "Permission to take Ivoryspur outside. Just for a bit?"

The femme commander smiled softly in understanding and maybe even in relief, "Of course. I will ensure that no one bothers you."

"Thanks," he grinned and then firmly guided Ivoryspur out the door by the shoulder.

Hound was nice enough to direct them to a fairly private section of the island where Ivoryspur could truly calm herself down before something bad happened. Almost the moment they stepped outside and were away from the crowded confines of the rec. room Volary noted the Ivoryspur's steps became more natural, even if she was still under obvious mental distress. They left the main area of the base behind them and into a more wooded area until they finally stopped in a small clearing among the trees and other foliage.

Volary watched the black femme pace around the area for a few minutes before she finally plunked herself down on a large boulder with a defeated sigh, "What are we doing here, Volary?"

"You need to calm dow—"

"I mean what are we even doing on this side of the planet?" she grumbled.

"I thought we already answered that question," he snorted, a hint of amusement coming to his voice as he sat on the ground next to her.

Ivory shook her helm, "All this because I let them rescue that human…."

Volary just shrugged, "And how do you know things wouldn't be worse if we had decided to just leave her there? At least this way the Autobots owe us something."

She grumbled something unintelligible and slouched forward, leaning her chin on her clawed hands. Her companion smiled sympathetically, and leaned his helm back. Admittedly, he was as glad to be out of that room as she was. He watched her sulk out of the corner of his optic for a few minutes before releasing another sigh.

"I understand how you feel," he began slowly, "There's always been some level of pressure on both of us since Staticshroud named us his two lieutenants. Just…now there's a whole lot more at stake."

"Hmph."

He smiled mirthlessly, "At least you can express how you feel about this whole mess. Meanwhile everyone looks to me to be the optimistic one. The one that's going to tell them everything will be ok," he lowered his gaze solemnly, "And…while I may say it anyways….I almost feel like I'm lying to them….

"And you," he continued, tilting his helm back to look at her, "you're scared because you don't know how to protect them if it turns out I am lying."

She gave him a look, "Last I checked, you couldn't read other's processors."

"Maybe not," he shrugged, "But I think I know you well enough by now to guess that's pretty close."

She narrowed her optics at him, but said nothing and they both lapsed into silence.

As much as she hated to admit it, Volary was almost straight on in his observations. They really did know each other too well sometimes. The predictability of it all could be unsettling if she thought about it for too long. At the same time, it was oddly comforting to know that because they also knew how to never let the other down. Their partnership as Staticshroud's head officers and beyond that their friendship had perhaps been the most dependable thing in her life next to the relationship she had with her mother.

Certainly they both had plenty of downfalls. For instance Volary's persistent forgetfulness that hovering over her shoulder rarely ended well or any other such infiltrations of her personal space. And likewise, her temper wasn't the most endearing quality one could possess and had more than once threatened her friend's very well being. But somehow they managed to tolerate and stand by one another through all the vorns that had passed since the birth of the Glitchlings.

From a practical stand point, the Glitchlings had done well under their combined efforts. With Volary's optimism and tendency to be the "big brother" of their group and her talent for keeping just about everyone else in line. They were both decent leadership-figures on their own, but together they were able to balance out each others' faults and easily triple what they were capable of.

And not for the first time she was willing to confess to herself that she didn't have a clue as to what she would do without him.

She glanced to the side to see that Volary was peacefully resting in the waning sunlight. She found it very tempting to just smack that contented look off his face plates. But at the same time she couldn't help but smile fondly.

Without any conscious initiation a small file was brought up to the front of her processors. It startled her at first, since she was quite sure that wasn't anything like what she had been thinking about previous. But then again maybe it wasn't so different.

The file was something that was tucked into the default programming given to virtually all young Cybertronians as they reached maturity that contained the telling of an old folk tale and an equally old poem.

She glanced at Volary again and sighed. This was easily going to be the most ridiculous thing she had ever done.

With a deliberately dull tone she began reciting the verse, "From the depths of my spark I wish to say; That you alone make me fell this way—"

Volary's helm snapped in her direction so fast she absently believed he might have hurt himself. And already she was beginning to feel absolutely ridiculous to the point she could die. But there was no turning back now.

"You are my world, my sun, my star; I want you close even when you're far."

She silently cursed the mech from the folk tale. According to the story, the mech was after the spark of his beloved but was unsure of how to proceed. So he wrote her this flowery, but honest poem. The plan was a stunning success, and he was accepted as her spark mate.

"And so I present to you my spark and every secret I hold; Every dream, every thought to you will unfold."

And then the tale ended with all his friend's stealing his work and the poem spread like wildfire throughout Cybertron like some teenage pop song. Anymore it was used as a form of proposing for those that weren't certain where they stood in their loved one's optics. If the other party accepted, they would recite the second stanza. Not to say that Ivoryspur didn't know what Volary thought of her, she knew how long he had been waiting even though they had never really discussed it. But now that she felt…ready…well it was the only way she knew how to bring the subject up.

"I pray you will grant my greatest desire of all; For without you by my side my whole existence might fall."

By this point Volary was grinning like an idiot at her and she glowered at him, "Just finish it already."

"Of course," he chuckled and shut off his optics contently, "To have you as my mate is my only thought; I don't want a future in which we are not."

Ivoryspur rolled her optics at his almost giddy tone, and yet a part of her couldn't help but feel relieved. Just knowing the worst was over and done with and that any doubt about his feelings had been laid to rest was enough to keep her mouth shut in reference to his rather absurd tone.

"So take me as yours, and you to be mine; Our being merged together in perfect align."

He reached up and touched her arm, and while she flinched, she didn't try to make him back off. And now that she thought about it, maybe it didn't bother her as much as she would like to think it did.

"Past and the present and what is to come; Every last fragment of us melted up into one."

Ivoryspur sighed, glad that part was over with, "Well that was less painful than I thought it'd be."

He smirked at her, "I'm impressed you still have that file."

"Nothing is worth deleting, Volary. No matter how ludicrous," she snorted indignantly, and slid off her rock so that she was sitting on the ground next to him, "But we're not done."

He quirked an optic ridge at her, "You make this sound like a mundane task."

"It's a long time in coming," she mused, carefully leaning over and nuzzling the crook of his neck, "How did you expect me to act?"

He smiled softly, "I'm really not sure. Though the fact you haven't acted like you're going to hit me yet is a bit of a surprise."

"Hmmm," she gave a soft purr, pressing the side of her helm firmly against his, and he returned the gesture "You haven't been irritating enough….so far."

"Well let's see if I can't continue that for at least a little longer."

* * *

Epps walked confidently towards the Autobot rec. room and the place the "Glitchlings" would be calling home for the time being as everyone tried to figure out what to do with them. Lucky for them, the human governments were still in the dark about the whole ordeal, but it wouldn't be long now. And he was the one in charge of making sure everything went smoothly for as long as they were here.

He couldn't really complain, it was getting him out of many of his regular duties after all. But he knew it was going to be a challenge. So far he only knew what little information Optimus had been able to give him, and that wasn't much to go on. Luckily, Epps already had the first part of his battle plan mapped out. And in essence, it was the same thing he always did when there was a new Autobot on base. He simply would spend as much time with each of them as he could, learn who they were and what makes them tick and that was that! It normally worked out pretty well, and not only did it help him, it also helped the new human recruits that didn't know how to act around the Cybertronians yet. And considering the fact that these newcomers were all "glitched" this would be more important than ever.

Epps had been working with Cybertronians long enough now to know that he couldn't go into this with any real expectations concerning how they acted or would respond to his presence as those would always be thrown out the window in some form or other. It was always best to have an open mind in these situations.

And so when the rec. room doors opened, he was not the least bit surprised to see a giant pipe organ in the back of the room repeatedly playing the "Hallelujah" chorus.

________________________

_______________________

* * *

_

Frog: Mothers know everything XD

Ivoryspur's personality does _not _lend itself well to romance, so that's why it may not have seemed particularly fluffy, but I thought it suited the two of them perfectly. Hopefully the whole story that went along with it wasn't too confusing. I wasn't meaning that every Cybertronain would "propose" that way, just those that don't know any other way to say it.

I hope all of you now feel a little better and we'll be back to the main plot again next time. Let's see if I can't get the next chapter up before college starts O_O

Thanks for reading! And please review! Bye!


	14. Chapter 14: Moving Forward

Frog: So...

Been awhile...

Yeah...Sorry about that :P I got stuck on the first part of the chapter, and I'm still not completely happy about it, but oh well. It's better than what I had originally at least!

There's also the next movie to consider, which is another reason I've been stalling in the back of my mind. See, I have this sneaking suspicion that whatever happens in the next movie is going to TOTALLY disrupt the ending I have planned (and partly written for this fic), so I'm hesitant to move forward certain parts if they aren't even going to lead anywhere XP

As a final side note, I think I'm going to be starting a mini-ficlet series on the Glitchlings, since I've got several one-shots about them on my computer. I know it's sort of self-indulgent, but maybe some of my readers would like it. Besides, it will give me a chance to explore more into character development of several of the Glitchlings as opposed to the plot-driven development of a select few in this story. So yeah, I don't know what I'm going to call it yet, but I'm probably going to be posting that in the somewhat near future (pre/early summer).

Anyway, you guys have waited long enough! The chapter title says it all!

* * *

**Chapter 14: Moving Forward**

Epps kept a straight face as every set of optics in the room turned his way. They ranged from harmlessly curious to suspicious to glares of utter disgust. He made a point to meet each gaze as the pipe organ in the background died down, though, if he listened hard enough, he could still hear it playing softly to itself with the utmost glee. Setting a firm stance, he began his carefully practiced introduction.

"Good evening, I am Sergeant Robert Epps of NEST. I am here to serve as your liaison and your guide for the duration of your stay in Diego Garcia. Now before we begin our orientations, I am obligated to ask if you have any pressing questions or concerns that need to be addressed first."

Almost immediately, a small mech near the back of the room raised his hand, and Epps gave him an affirming nod, "Yes?"

"Well," the mech began awkwardly, "Despite the fact that we've lived here for so long, most of us aren't used to living around humans, so…um….what happens if we accidently…step on one or something?"

The Sergeant almost smiled, despite the seriousness behind the question, "The Autobots have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to injuries to humans. Accidents, so long as they aren't serious or cause loss of human life, are to be dealt with mildly during your two month grace period. After that, you will be expected to know better," he relaxed slightly, and this time did allow a smile to come to his face, "But I wouldn't worry about that too much. You won't be dealing much with us humans for awhile yet, so just practice by not crushing our furniture."

The mech nodded slowly, looking more relieved even if he was now glancing nervously at the few remaining human sized objects in the room.

"Anything else?" Epps queried, looking around expectantly. Taking their silence as a "no" he continued, "Good. Now I'm gonna give you a basic rundown on how we run things around here, and how that applies to you. I expect you guys will have more questions as we go along, so don't hesitate to give a shout-out when you do.

"First and foremost, I'd like to let you all know that I'm not here to try and boss you around. We're gonna try and be partners in this situation, so don't be afraid—"

"Does he really think we'd be afraid of him?" someone questioned to the side, apparently assuming he couldn't hear them. Epps chose to ignore the comment.

"—to come talk to me anytime you feel the need to. Next, this base. Prime has requested that ya'll stay in this hangar for the time being to keep you out of trouble. Permission to go outside will be granted on a case-by-case basis, and you will go in pairs or groups of three, and have communication with the bots in charge of operating this room at all times.

"Diego Garcia is already equipped to house Cybertronians. Now I'll admit, we normally don't grow by this many at one time, but rest assured we do have the resources to support your well-being. The human staff that will be working in closest proximity to your area are all highly qualified and will know not to get in your way, as well as be there to assist you should I not be around."

"What about the Autobots?" a dark green mech stepped forward.

"Optimus has ordered that they give you your space. Ratchet will be your stand-in medic, and there will be a few 'Bots guarding this hangar, all hand-picked by Optimus himself," Epps paused, looking the mech who spoke over, "You must be Staticshroud, the guy in charge, right?"

"Not as much as you might think," the mech sighed, kneeling a little closer to the human's level, "But yes, that would be me."

"It's a pleasure to be working with you sir," Epps saluted. Staticshroud managed a small, albeit strained smile in return.

"I suppose I should say the same for you as well. If nothing else, you are a relief compared to what I was expecting to deal with…no offence of course."

"Considering the day you guys just had, none taken," Epps snorted back a laugh, "Now, uh, I know we don't have time for me to get to know everybody, but if you'd at least point out your two commanding officers? It helps to know who's in charge."

The Glitchling leader paused and cast a look of uncertainty at the pipe organ, who promptly transformed and answered in a cheerful voice, "They just went out for a little. I'm sure they'll be back soooooon. In fact, I believe they're already on their way!"

Right on cue, the door swished open again and the Autobot guards allowed the two towering forms of the co-lieutenants back into the room. The pipe organ trilled loudly, forcing Epps to cover his ears with a wince as she trotted over and flung her arms around the clawed, black one.

Staticshroud snorted in amusement, "Searget Epps, I'd like you to meet Ivoryspur and Volary, our Off and On-Base Commanders, respectively."

"Is this really necessary," Ivoryspur ground out as she tried to pry her creator off without risking physical damage to older femme.

"I'm so proud of you!" Organum giggled, ignoring her daughter's discomfort completely.

Those words, as though they were some secret code, brought looks of shock to the rest of the Glitchlings.

"No way…"

"Did you guys just?"

"And here?"

"NOW?"

Ivoryspur cast a glower at Pinprick as the small mech quickly clamped his hands over his vocalizer. Volary, on the other hand, was torn between laughing at their surprise or becoming uncomfortable by the sudden attention to what was really more a private state of affairs.

"What's their problem?" Epps turned back to Staticshroud, puzzled. The Glitchling leader looked down at him, his own surprised expression slowly turning into a smile.

"I suppose the human term for it would be 'newlyweds'?"

Epps looked at the newly bonded couple (and the rather invasive mother creator who had moved on to embracing Volary while her daughter watched with barely concealed concern), then looked back at Staticshroud, the couple again and then back for a few more times.

"Here?" he jerked his thumb at the co-lieutenants in disbelief.

"I must say I'm actually relieved. I was beginning to worry for Ivoryspur's sanity over this ordeal. But I think Volary will have better success keeping her under control with a bond in place."

"I don't think I wanna know," Epps admitted, shaking his head, "But congrats to them….I guess."

* * *

Main Autobot Conference Room:

"Do you realize what you've just done, Sideswipe? Do you have any idea?"

The silver mech flinched at the Prime's oh-so-calm tone, but did not shrink under the disapproving gaze of the Autobot leader. The room was empty, save the two of them, and Sideswipe was beginning to wish that someone, even Ironhide, was present so that he could have someplace to look other than directly at the large red and blue mech opposite of him.

"Well apparently I've managed to frag everyone off, if that's what you mean," he answered with a shrug as his optics bored back into that of his leader, "And here I thought I was just trying to be a good Autobot soldier and protect our base and our human allies and—"

"Sideswipe," Optimus warned, prompting the young mech to switch off his vocalizer. The Autobot leader sat up a little straighter and eyed his soldier critically, "As it appears you are too overcome by your own emotional state—" the silver mech twitched, but a firm look silenced him before the protesting could begin, "I will explain to you just how great a error you have made."

Sideswipe lowered his helm begrudgingly, blue optics intensely bright as he tried to hold still. He hadn't liked the idea of the "Glitchlings" using their com-station to get some youngling they owned. Not one bit. So, the moment the cargo plane carrying himself and Prime's officers touched down he had made his way to where the station was being put together, waited for Blaster to become preoccupied elsewhere, slipped inside and simply sliced through as many bundles of wires as he could spot. He would have smashed the consol as a whole but one-that would make too much noise, and two-he was still lucid enough to realize that the Autobots were likely to need that station at one point or other.

"Now while you have not completely destroyed the effort we put into constructing the station, I have been informed that its development has been set back several weeks. However, as you may be…less pleased to discover, the actual portion of it needed for the Glitchlings to contact the Decepticons will be repaired and ready by this evening."

"Then what's the big deal?"

Optimus hung his helm with a weary sigh, "The issue is not that the console was damaged, Sideswipe, the issue is that the Glitchlings may be potential and much needed allies to our cause. However, if they feel we cannot be trusted then it may be nearly impossible for us to build a mutually beneficial relationship with them," feeling a prick of irritation in his spark, Optimus added, "I would think you would want to rebuild your relationship with your brother. You must remember he is still one of their number."

Sideswipe's optics flashed angrily, "First of all, my brother doesn't like younglings. If he had one of his own, he's name it Slinky, just so he could push it down the stairs. I doubt he'd care less if they got their brat back or not!"

"Yes the same could be said for how Ironhide views Skids and Mudflap. Yet if their lives were ever at stake, he would come to their aid without a second thought," Optimus stated thoughtfully.

"Your point?"

"Sunstreaker may have chosen to disregard his brand, but I believe him still to be an Autobot at spark. Regardless of his personal feelings on the matter, I believe that given the opportunity Sunstreaker would not leave the youngling to suffer in Decepticon hands."

The silver mech scoffed, slumping down in his seat, "He sure didn't have a problem leaving me behind…"

"Oh? And how would you know that? You may be twins, but that doesn't mean you can read one another's processors like your own," Optimus explained gently.

Sideswipe shifted, "…..No…."

The Prime sighed again, his visage once again becoming stern, "You are sentenced to the brig until further notice. Prowl will dictate your official punishment regimen later. Once that is over, and assuming you have had the chance to calm yourself, I implore you to seek your brother out and find a means of putting this behind you."

The younger mech stared at him, optics narrowed, "You're not a twin. You don't know anything."

"Maybe not. But I do know what it's like to have a brother turn against you permanently. I would not wish that on anyone, especially not the two of you."

Sideswipe sunk a little farther into his chair as the Prime returned to his leader-ship tone of voice, "Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

"No sir."

"And you understand the reasoning for your punishment," a grunt, "Very well. Ironhide is waiting outside to take you to the brig. Please think about what I have said while you are there."

"I don't need an escort," Sideswipe grumbled. He stood and stalked to the door where he was promptly met with the weapons specialist's disapproving glare. He followed the black warrior wordlessly, casting one last unreadable look in the Prime's direction. As the door hissed shut shook his helm tiredly.

Would this day never end?

* * *

One hour later:

"Well…" Blaster huffed, rolling a shoulder, "I'd say it looks like it's gonna work! It's not perfect, and the encryptions are only enough to keep the humans from catching the frequency, but it has enough range to reach any regular Decepticon in this solar system. Thank that'll be enough?"

Elita-One felt her frame relax, "That should be plenty, thank you Blaster."

"No problem," he waved a hand dismissively, and started to fiddle with the consol's controls, talking as he went, "I'll start preparations to make contact. Is someone on their way here?"

She nodded, "I just instructed Hound to let them know."

"Who do you think they'll send? I mean, negotiating with 'Cons is some pretty tricky business."

"Oh they have one bot who's perfectly qualified for that, trust me," the Femme Commander explained, a tinge of bitterness entering her vocalizer.

Blaster quirked an optic ridge, "Someone you know?"

She glanced at him and then sighed, "Not exactly. She's a politician from the….Praxian school of thought."

Now Blaster hadn't always kept much up to date on the politics of Cybertron. In fact, he had rarely cared at all until the prospect of civil war became apparent. But given his rank as communications officer he did know a thing or two about the various parties and their mindsets. Praxian politicians and like-minded bots were very logic-oriented in their standings. They would without fail be more willing to agree with fact than feeling, making them something of a challenge to debate with in the political arena.

One of the most hotly contested arguments, and the only one that Blaster could think would have the Femme Commander in such a "mood", was the Praxian politicians were very against the notion of Primes taking bond mates.

"Ah…" the orange mech muttered, "Well no use arguing over it now. You and Optimus are a happy couple and there ain't nothing the neutral can do about it."

"It will come up, believe me," Elita-One crossed her arms over her chassis, "I may not know Organum very well, but one doesn't have to be a dear friend of hers to realize she isn't above saying 'I told you so' when it suits her."

Blaster quirked an optic ridge, "Are you saying she was right?"

She straightened, "Nothing of the sort. However, as Praxian logic often is, her points in the initial debate were, and still are valid," a sigh, "It's only a matter of time before the topic resurfaces in one form or other, even if I've requested that we leave the past behind us."

"Knock, knock!" a female voice trilled as the door opened and Organum waltzed into the room. Despite her smile, Blaster didn't fail to notice the way the pipe organ femme cast a critical optic over at Elita-One before looking back at him in expectation, "I've come to make a call."

He nodded and gestured to the lightly buzzing machinery, "Almost ready."

"Excellent!"

* * *

Decepticon Base:

Soundwave could only think of one word to match the scene in front of him.

Impressive.

The large Decepticon laboratory was in shambles. Cupboards were open and many were missing their coverings, their contents knocked over and scattered about the counter tops and floor far below. Machinery sparked, screens fizzled and frizted, spilled acidic were corroding the counter top and a few chemical samples were slowly burning despite the low levels of oxygen.

And all because Starscream couldn't keep track of a single youngling.

Therefore, Soundwave was not impressed with Starscream, per say, but rather with the amount of trouble such a tiny bot could cause in such a small amount of time. Said creature was currently clutched tightly in the large seeker's claws, too exhausted to wail and cry any longer, but continued his struggle against his captor's grasp with what little effort he had left.

"No more poking!" the youngling squealed in alarm as Starscream once again prepared the device that would upload Decepticon programming into his malleable processor. Soundwave had been doubtful at first of the seeker's claims that the youngling was somehow immunce to the uploads, but even Starscream couldn't fail at such a seemingly simple task five times in a row, could he?

Soundwave decided they were only wasting time. If the youngling truly did have an immunity of some sort, then retrying the same thing over and over again wasn't likely to be productive.

"Permission to assist in operation?" Soundwave queried, stepping completely into the room. Starscream glanced at him, the anger in his optics intensifying at yet another interruption. Instead of berating Soundwave for the intrusion, however, the Seeker glanced down at the Pit spawn that had been plaguing him for over a joor now and then glared back at the communications officer.

"It certainly took you long enough to get here," the Seeker scoffed, shoving the youngling at the silvery mech. The small Cybertronian whined in irritation as Soundwave coiled him into one of his slender, tentacle-like appendages, and began his struggling anew. The moment Starscream left, already ranting at whoever and whatever happened to be nearby, Soundwave focused his gaze at light blue optics of the youngling.

He had stopped struggling for the moment, looking up at his newest captor with suspicious gaze. Was this stranger going to poke and prod him with strange machines too? Or was he finally going to go home, like he had been asking to for forever and ever now? Soundwave almost had to pity him. Right now, however, he needed to look into what made this youngling so difficult to reprogram.

Just as he was setting down the once again fitful youngling on the countertop, he became aware of a foreign signal. Curious, he turned his sensors more fully onto it. It appeared to be Autobot in origin, and yet the energy signature attached did not come up as Autobot. He sincerely hoped a human hadn't somehow gotten a hold of a Cybertronian com. link. He loathed to think of the flesh bags having access to something like that. However, it was his job to investigate, and so he returned the frequency.

The frequency strengthened at the response, homing in on his position, and allowing him better access to information regarding who was operating it. A neutral, undoubtedly one of those the Autobots had "rescued" earlier. Soundwave determined that this was decidedly more interesting than turning a youngling into a drone, and turned his full attention the frequency, this time sending a full response.

_"Transmission active. State your function,"_ he instructed.

The frequency was quiet for a moment before the response came, _"I believe you have something that belongs to me. I am here to negotiate its safe return."_

Soundwave turned his helm to survey the youngling once more, his grip tightening as he sent a quick com. to Megatron regarding the situation,_ "Understood."_


	15. Chapter 15: Prices Paid

Frog: Sorry for the late update, once again. As I said last time, I just got really paranoid that the new movie was going to totally change up how my plotline was going to work. And it did, and I didn't like it so I'm disregarding that movie as far as this fic goes ;) DOTM had it's moments, but none of them are worth my Glitchlings worrying about. That and I'm not quite happy with this chapter, but...oh well XP

So yeah...hopefully there aren't too many errors and whatnot. My sister is busy and can't read this chapter, and after rereading it myself, I just didn't feel like making my readers wait another day (if I still have any XD). Hopefully it won't take me so long next time.

* * *

**Chapter 15: Prices Paid**

Organum did not particularly like her situation. It was unfavorable on virtually every level.

Foremost, she was negotiating the return of a youngling that she could not even be sure was still online and functioning properly. She had also deduced that the mech on the other end of the conversation was the Decepticon Communication's Officer, Soundwave. Most of what she knew of the mech was just hearsay from members of her own faction, but she had been hoping for someone a little more….malleable to be in contact with. Then there was the rather uncomfortable predicament that the two Autobots in the room with her were tapped into the entire conversation. She knew they wouldn't interrupt, but it also meant she had to go an extra length not to upset them as she tried to earn the Decepticon's favor.

She was quite sure she hadn't had to work around such a delicate set of politics since…well Pre-war Cybertron.

"I speak on behalf of a neutral colony of Cybertronians that have taken residence on this planet, and are currently under Autobot protection. I have been assured that our business here is only between our individual factions, and that the Autobots will not interfere unless our deal directly tampers with their mission."

Another emotionless _"Understood"_ was her only answer for several minutes, and Organum struggled to hold still. She hadn't had to do this kind of work in a long time, and she realized with some distain that she must have gotten rusty.

Finally the frequency came through again, _"What of worth do you offer?"_

The former noblefemme hummed softly, "In comparison to a faction of your strength and number, very little. However, as I do not know the state of your needs, I am open to suggestions."

She had been expecting to be answered in silence once more, but instead Soundwave responded evenly in turn, _"Access-codes to your base of operations."_

Organum stared at the console, catching Elita's frown from the corner of her optic, _"I'm unsure why that would be necessary."_

_"You have proven you are not complete fools. We will not risk time on any securities you have in place. Access-codes also give ready availability to your data-bases."_

She chose not to comment on the fact that their base really didn't have security measures in place beyond their cloaking devices. Providing access to their data-base would save the Decepticons time in the event that the Autobots moved to pursue them, but little more. Unless…

_"That, I'm afraid, will not be possible," _she answered calmly.

_"It is the data or the youngling."_

She frowned pensively. With nothing worthwhile to negotiate with, however, she didn't have much of a choice. She supposed it wasn't the worst of deals, but it would still leave their group more vulnerable than they had ever been.

Lifting her helm minutely, she addressed Elita-One out loud, "Tell me we can trust you. That we will be safe here."

The Femme Commander tilted her helm to the side, "It is our duty as Autobots to protect the innocent. Your group is no exception."

With a nod, Organum returned her attention to the still silent com. link, _"Very well, we agree to your terms. Sending the requested data now."_

_"Affirmative."_

_"And our youngling."_

_"The youngling will be returned to you unharmed."_

Organum could only hope he was telling the truth as the communication was cut off and she was left in silence.

"Is there something in your faction's data banks we should be concerned about?" Elita questioned once Blaster confirmed that the link was shut off.

"No…it's not that," the noblefemme murmured, "Our data-bases have a great deal of information on our members, that's what I'm worried about. The Decepticons will have an exact list of every bot that's left their ranks to be with us, as well as all of our glitches and malfunctions and our solutions to them."

Elita finally nodded in understanding, "So now they will know all your weaknesses…"

"Everything we have recorded anyway. Ranks, stats, research, medical files," the noblefemme gave Elita a pointed look, "As much as I hate to admit it, we won't be able to defend ourselves if they choose to use this information against us. And now we don't have much other choice but to trust you Autobots either."

"I assure you we will do everything in our power to keep you safe."

Organum smiled, but there was still a glint of doubt in her optics as she headed for the door, "Thank you for allowing me to use your equipment, but I must share these developments with my leader."

* * *

"So you really didn't know?" Ratchet asked cynically as he eyed the former Decepticon sitting on the medical berth before him. Spectral responded with a glare.

"What reason would I have to lie about something like that?"

"Easy now," the medic snorted, "I'm sure even _you_ will admit it's odd that you have a sparkling you never even sensed existed."

Disgruntled, the dark mech lowered his helm, "Granted…"

There was a lingering silence for several seconds as Spectral tried to wrap his processor around the fact that he was a creator. That somewhere out there, he had sparkling of his own, through his late beloved. It was as mystifying as it was frightening.

After all, where was the little one now?

"Why have I never noticed before?" Spectral asked lowly as the Autobot CMO had returned to prepping his other patient for what Ratchet had explained was going to be a very invasive procedure. Spectral managed to spare a thought of pity for Sparkler in his musings, but his was too bemused to do much more.

Ratchet paused again, "Oddly enough the answer might lie within your glitch…"

"But there are no sparkling's in my—"

"Staticshroud informed me that you are unsure what parts of your hallucinations are true and which your processor has made up. Your files obviously aren't a good reference for what really happened that orn. How are the physical effects?"

"I've been told it's a limited spark trauma. As though I were living through her death again, but to a lesser degree."

"If it's trauma you're experiencing, then we can presume you were not with your mate as she died. Her deactivation caught you by surprise."

"And?"

Ratchet smiled grimly, "In a war as grand and never-ending as ours, very few things are unheard of. I've heard of cases of Autobot and even neutral femme's who were fatally wounded while carrying. Sometimes the sparklings could be saved if a medic reached them in time…"

"Why would an Autobot do that for a Decepticon?"

"It all depends on the individual, Spectral. If that is indeed what happened, the strain of losing your mate coupled with the fact you weren't consciously aware of your sparkling may have caused that bond to be misplaced somewhere among the turmoil of her death. I believe your "nightmares", as it were, might be your spark attempted to tend to the spark of your offspring, but because that data is not present in your processor, you memory banks instead bring up files of a bond you were familiar with."

"Does my sparkling feel that, then?"

"A youngling would actually be more accurate giving how long ago it happened. And no, as they have no memory of you or their mother, they are just as unaware of the bond as you are."

"I-is there some way…I can change that?"

"You can try to locate the bond if you like, but I can't make any promises that it will actually work. And right now I think I'm going to require some assistance with your medic. A familiar face would do her good."

He plugged a device into Sparkler's helm and began filtering the data that appeared on the screen. Spectral came to stand next to him, watching as the orange femme's medical files were deleted piece by piece until there was nothing left to remove without doing more damage. Ratchet gave the information one last, thorough look-through before unplugging the femme and twisting his face into a grimace.

"Now what?" Spectral asked slowly.

"Now we turn her on, and hope for the best."

"Shouldn't we wait for Staticshroud to return?"

Ratchet shook his helm, "That mech has enough on his plate as it is, and your medic here can't spend much more time in stasis lock without her systems being damaged by the lack of use. If anyone wants to argue with me later, they're free to do so."

* * *

"Will Spaz be home soon?" Fidget asked with a drawn out sigh. Quetzal looked up from her idle incessant tapping on a nearby datapad to give him a smile.

"Very soon," she assured.

"Will he be ok?"

A pregnant pause, "We all hope so."

"What if he's not?" he murmured, leaning against her as he thought of living life without his exuberant friend.

"Then we'll just take care of him until he's better again."

Fidget managed a small smile, "We Glitchlings are good at that, huh?"

Quetzal nodded in agreement, gently stroking the youngling's helm. Since everyone had settled in, the former femme Decepticon had calmed considerably. She was surrounded by her friends and allies and she was aware that the others were doing everything in their power to bring Spaz back safely. There was still a nagging paranoia due to the fact that outside these walls she was surrounded by vicious Autobots, but she let her faith in Staticshroud and Organum be her solace that no one was going to hurt them.

Still, a sudden screech from the Autobot med-bay nearly sent the poor green femme into stasis-lock.

"Sparkler?" Fidget queried, looking around the room at the other startled Glitchlings for confirmation.

"That's just a standard reaction for waking up in Ratchet's med-bay," Sunstreaker sighed, easing back against the wall, "She's fine."

The youngling was unconvinced and looked imploringly up at his caregiver, "Shouldn't someone go check on her?"

"I can," Volary started towards the door when suddenly Quetzal stood up, nearly falling back in the process.

"No, you need to stay here in case we get any news about Spaz," the femme explained, steadying herself, "I can check on her. Fidget can come with me."

"Quetzal's right. Staticshroud is on the verge of glitching out again, and it will take both you and Organum to hold Ivory down in case the Autobots return with bad news," Braimond nodded in agreement, and then added more quietly, "And in the even there is bad news, neither Quetzal nor Fidget will have to hear it just yet."

Volary paused, before sighing his consent, "Don't hesitate to call for back-up if she starts to panic. I've got a bad feeling about this…"

"Of course," Quetzal wandered into the hallway, holding Fidget's hand as they headed to the med-bay.

Muffled voices could be heard as they drew closer to the doors, and the closer they got the more the green femme was beginning to second guess if this had really been a good idea. She had been on good terms with Sparkler since coming to Earth, but she wasn't sure if the medic really considered her a friend. Perhaps her concern wouldn't be appreciated? Or she was just too weak to support what was undoubtedly a traumatic turn of events for Sparkler. The doors opened before she could completely change her mind, however, and she stared fretfully at the sight before her.

Sparkler was perched on one of the med-bay tables, her helm in her hands as her frame trembled from a vicious concoction of emotions. The Autobot CMO was still explaining what exactly had happened and why as Spectral stood awkwardly off to the side. The black and red mech glanced up as Quetzal and Fidget entered the room and sighed in relief.

"Is everything ok?" Quetzal asked slowly, looking between the two medics.

"What do you think?" Sparkler growled, "Did you know about this?"

"Y-yes…" she looked down at Fidget, "We all know."

"As I was saying," Ratchet went on, ignoring the newest intrusion, "You will have to relearn everything in regards to the medical field."

"Yeah, one problem. I don't have time!" the femme medic snapped, clutching her helm again.

Ratchet almost smiled, "It won't take as long the first time. Most of your mem.-banks were untouched by the glitch…glitching. You will remember most procedures are you are re-taught them."

Sparkler looked fully up at him with a glare, "And I suppose _you're_ going to have to be the one to teach me?"

"I gave Optimus my word that I would take care of all of you. That includes re-assimilating you as the Glitchling medic. Besides, I don't need the extra work-load."

"How generous of you…"

"Sparkler?"

The orange femme slowly fixed her gaze on Quetzal as the smaller femme shifted by the door, "Yes."

Quetzal took a chance and stepped farther into the room, "If it's any consolation, I think I prefer you as a medic than him."

"You do realize I will be your medic until she's ready to work again, don't you?" Ratchet asked skeptically.

She took a step back towards the door, "No thank you, I can wait…"

Sparkler sighed before Ratchet would retort, "She's afraid of you. Something about Decepticon horror stories."

"The ones they used to tell the younglings do get rather graphic," Spectral agreed. Ratchet wasn't sure if he was furious or flattered.

"I'm gonna wait too!" Fidget piped up, "Icefog will be my medic until you get better!"

"Icefog is your designated medic anyway," Sparkler pointed out with a dry smile. Fidget was unfazed.

"Granted they are loyal to you," Ratchet muttered, giving Sparkler a side-long glance, "So for their sake I suggest we get to your lessons immediately."

"Shouldn't she rest first?" Quetzal queried, looking over the weary frame of their medic with concern.

"I think I can get one lesson in before I fritz," Sparkler sighed, and then pointed at the two former Decepticons, "One of you needs to stay here and fill me in on what's going on."

"And that would be my cue to leave," Spectral announced, "I'm about as clueless as you, after all."

"You're my best friend, Spectral," the femme medic called sarcastically.

"Bye Spectral," Fidget waved kindly. He paused to look at the young mech as one of his little arms trembled a few times.

Icefog claimed that the reason for the youngling's twitchiness was that his spark had been too young to be removed from his mother's spark chamber as she lay dieing. It would never be fully bonded with his frame, resulting in bubbles in his circuitry that had given him his namesake. As far as he knew, the youngling had been created around the time—No…It was already enough of a coincidence. To insist on it being any more would be too surreal.

Shaking his helm he left the room, leaving a bemused set of femmes, an oblivious youngling and a curious Autobot medic. Ratchet hummed thoughtfully and rubbed his chin.

"You first lesson will be a simple in depth scan," he began, "Youngling? Would you like to volunteer?"

"Me really? I get to help!" if there was one thing Fidget loved more than anything else, it was somehow being useful to the adults.

Ratchet nodded and Quetzal set him up on the med-bay table. Sparkler sluggishly moved from her slumped over position on the adjacent table and came to stand in front of him.

"What exactly am I scanning for?"

"We will know when we find it," Ratchet mused, pulling up some seemingly unrelated data on one of his screens, "Well go on. Get it over with."

* * *

The doors to the Glitchling's temporary housing couldn't open quickly enough for Blaster to claw inside, as he announced, "I think we've got a hit on your youngling's location!"

"Where?" Ivoryspur demanded before anyone could get between her and the excited Autobot mech.

He handed her a data pad without argument and began to explain, "Optimus is putting together a rescue team as we speak. You'll have him before sunset!"

The black femme shot him a look, "That'll take too long. Out of my way."

Volary thought about stopping her, as did Staticshroud and Organum, but they quickly realized that it would be no use as she was already outside before any of them could have had the chance to speak. One of the Autobot guards outside shouted as the sound of helicopter blades filled the air and faded off into the distance.

Blaster looked after her for a moment, shrugged and kindly bid the Glitchlings a good day.

Ivoryspur, meanwhile, was headed after Spaz's beacon, according to the information she had received. The more quickly she found the youngling, the better it would be for all of them. It was bad enough that the Decepticons had been confirmed on their base less than an hour ago.

Finally she was as close to the coordinates as she could get without something more specific. Taking one last moment to check that whatever Decepticons had delivered him were long gone, she transformed and simply dropped into the water.

It wasn't until after she had sunk a good couple dozen feet that she realized she wasn't the most aqua-dynamic frame to be undertaking such a feat. She was too heavy to swim, and her alt. mode probably wouldn't function if it was water-logged. Therefore, the only means she had of returning to the surface would be to walk up the nearest continental slope to dry land. With a defeated sigh in the form of a plume of bubbles, she resigned herself to what would be a _very_ long walk across the sea floor once she found Spaz.

A faintly flickering blue light immediately caught her attention as she sank to the ocean floor. It was likely no coincidence that her beacon on the youngling was pointing the same direction. She arrived at a suspicious pile of shifting sand, watching idly as some of the local bottom dwellers scurried out of her path. With a click, she pointed a spot-light on her shoulder at the glowing pile, and relief filtered over her spark for the first time in hours.

Spaz reset his optics up at the light in alarm, the blinding brightness making it impossible for him to see its bearer. He was partly buried in sea-floor gunk, most likely in an effort to keep him in one place until he was retrieved. Ivoryspur turned the light so it was facing away from him, crouching closer to his level as realization dawned on his tiny face-plates.

An excited shriek of garbled nonsense bounced through the water to Ivoryspur's audios as she scooped the youngling out of the muck with one claw. Bringing him up to optic level for closer inspection, she was alarmed first at how low his energon levels were and second by how quickly he launched himself at her chassis despite that. She looked down at the youngling as he hugged himself as tightly to her as he could, mouth moving rapidly but vocalizer too tired to speak.

With a pained smile, Ivoryspur turned in the direction of the Autobot base, "Ready to go home?"

He nodded, loosening his grip as all the stress of the past twenty-four hours came crashing into his tiny frame. She caught him as he let go, falling into a deep state of recharge now that he was safe again.

Ivoryspur smiled, if only for the fact that there was no one to see it as she started her steady trek back to base.


End file.
